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A HAND-BOOK 



ON 



TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 




The Bacilli Tlbekcllosis. 
(Eularged abuut 4,000 times.) 




Portion of Luno. with Tubercles. 



A HAND-BOOK 

ON 

TUBERCULOSIS 

AMONG CATTLE, 

WITH 

CONSIDERATIONS OF THE RELATION OF THE DISEASE 
TO THE HEALTH AND LIFE OF THE HUMAN 
FAMILY, AND OF THE FACTS CONCERN- 
ING THE USE OF TUBERCULIN AS A 
DIAGNOSTIC TEST. 

COMPILED BY 

HENRY L. SHUMWAY. 



"The fact is, those who can, kill the bacilli however acquired; 
those who cannot, are killed by them." 

BOSTON: 
ROBERTS BROTHERS. 

1895. 



Copyright, 1895, 
By Henry L. Shumway. 



All rights reserved. 



c 



John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. 



COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
Board of Cattle Commissioners. 



62 Village St., Boston, March 4, 1895. 

We have been familiar with the work of the com- 
piler of this volume in all its details, and can testify 
to the patience and care with which he has per- 
formed it. We have examined the work in manu- 
script, and consider it a complete, comprehensive, 
and candid presentation in all its phases of a 
subject upon which we believe the great body of 

the public is in need of the information he has 
presented. 

CHARLES p. LYMAN. F. H. OSGOOD. 



PREFACE. 



This book is an evolution, its germ being an assign- 
ment to me as a member of the Boston " Herald " 
staff, to cover the work of the Massachusetts Cattle 
Commission in its attempt to control bovine tuber- 
culosis. As I became familiar with the work, I was 
impressed with its importance, and with the fact that 
the general public had but meagre and imperfect 
information on the subject. 

Accordingly, I attempted to gather and arrange 
the observations and experiences of those engaged 
in similar work, with the purpose of using it as a 
newspaper article for the better information of the 
public. I did not aim to instruct professional men ; 
nor did I especially design to influence the relatively 
small proportion of the public who are producers of 
meat and dairy products. My conviction was that 
the great mass of consumers — the general public — 
had the largest interest in the matter, and to arouse 
their interest, and to supply them with reliable infor- 
mation, was my purpose. 



viii PREFACE. 

The article was prepared and published ; and it 
was so well received and so warmly commended by 
the medical and veterinary profession, that I was 
encouraged to enlarge and complete it for publica- 
tion in a permanent form. 

In doing this work I have been most cordially 
assisted by Drs. Frederick H. Osgood and Charles 
P. Lyman, of the Massachusetts Cattle Commission 
and the Harvard University Yeterinary School ; and 
they have been kind enough to revise and approve 
the matter herewith presented. 

I am also under obligation to the United States 

Bureau of Animal Industry, and to Professor 

J. L. Hills of the Vermont Experiment Station, 

for permission to reproduce the illustrations in this 

volume. 

THE COMPILER. 

Boston, March 1, 1895. 



CONTENTS. 



Chaptee Page 

List of Principal Authorities ix 

Introduction 1 

I. General Prevalence of the Disease ... 5 

11. The Disease in the Lower Animals ... 15 

IIL Its Varied Symptoms and Appearances . . 25 

IV. Post-mortem Eevelations 35 

V. The Germ and the Disease 43 

VI. One Disease in Man and Cattle .... 50 

VII. Predisposing Causes, — not Hereditary . 57 

VIII. Nature and Certainty of Tuberculin . . 62 

IX. Operation and Delicacy of the Test . . 82 

X. Objections to the Test Answered . . . .104 

XL The Transmission of the Disease . . . .111 

XII. The Danger from Infected Milk . . . .125 

XIII. Conclusive Testimony as to Milk Infection 127 

XIV. Another Peril from the Disease .... 148 
XV. Necessary Measures for Protection . . . 154 



LIST OF PEmCIPAL AUTHORITIES, 



The principal authorities quoted in this volume, and their 
professional positions, are as follows : — 

Dr. F. H. Osgood, President of the Massachusetts Cattle 
Commission, Professor of Surgery and Superintendent of the 
Hospital of the Harvard University Veterinary School. 

Dr. C. p. Lyman, Secretary of the Massachusetts Cattle 
Commission, Dean of the Harvard University Veterinary 
School. 

Dr. D. E. Salmon, Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry, 
United States Department of Agriculture. 

Dr. Harold C. Ernst, Assistant Professor of Bacteriology, 
Harvard University Medical School. 

Dr. Austin Peters, a prominent Boston veterinarian, for- 
merly Veterinary Inspector of the New York State Board 
of Health. 

Dr. Bang, Chief of the Veterinary Department of the Royal 
Agricultural College, Copenhagen. 

M, Senn, M. D., Ph. D., author of the standard text-book 
"Principles of Surgery," and member of many notable 
Medical and Surgical Societies. 

Professor Thomas Walley, M. R. C. V. S., one of the most 
eminent British veterinarians. Principal and Professor of 
Veterinary Medicine and Surgery in the Edinburgh Royal 



xii LIST OF PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES. 

Veterinary College, etc. ; author of " The Four Bovine 
Scourges." 

Dr. George Fleming, Principal Veterinary Surgeon of the 
British Army, and author of a series of standard veteri- 
nary text-books. 

Irving A. AVatsox, M. D., President of the New Hampshire 
State Board of Health. 

Professor P. H. Bryce, M. A., M. D., Secretary of the 
Provincial Board of Health, Ottawa. 

Dr. James Law, Professor of Veterinary Science at the Cor- 
nell University Agricultural Experiment Station. 

Professor J. L. Hills, Director and Chemist, Vermont 
Agricultural Experiment Station. 

Dr. F. a. Rich, Veterinarian, Vermont Agricultural Ex- 
periment Station. 

Professor J. J. Mackenzie, Analyst of the Provincial 
Board of Health, Ottawa 

J. H. Kellogg, M. D., Battle Creek (Mich.) Sanitarium. 

Professor Leonard Pearson, of the Veterinary Depart- 
ment of the University of Pennsylvania. 



TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 



INTRODUCTORY. 

Tuberculosis is not a new disease. Its existence 
has been recognized for ages, and its ravages have 
for almost an equal period been a subject of com- 
ment by statisticians, and of anxiety, observation, 
and experiment by the medical profession. Much, 
in a general way, concerning its character was long 
ago established ; its contagiousness was recognized, 
and, while until a comparatively recent period it 
was not differentiated from some other diseases, 
nor were all its varied manifestations referred to 
its single cause, yet its identity in man and in 
animals was more than suspected. 

At the present time this disease is occupying a 
conspicuous position, not only among professional 
men, — physicians, veterinarians, and bacteriolo- 
gists, — but among all intelligent people. Profes- 
sional journals and the public press have frequent 
allusions to it, and there is general anxiety for 
information in regard to a wide variety of questions 
in which it is involved. 

1 



2 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

This general and increasing interest in the dis- 
ease has resulted, first, from the identification by 
Professor Koch of the germ of the disease ; second, 
from the confirmation of the theory that the disease 
is communicable between man and animals ; third, 
from the clearer appreciation of the peril to the 
human family through the careless and ignorant 
use of meat and dairy products in which the germs 
of the disease are present ; and, fourth, from the 
discovery of an agent by which its presence 
among animals can be declared with practical in- 
fallibility. 

This last discovery, as yet hardly more than two 
and a half years old, has resulted in the most gen- 
eral increase of interest concerning the disease; 
for it brought with it a promise of a possible 
method of controlling its ravages, and relieving the 
human family from much of the affliction resulting 
from it. 

Before the last mentioned discovery, while all 
else was practically certain, there was no means by 
which tuberculosis could be assuredly recognized 
until it had so far advanced as to place its spread 
beyond control, and its dissemination and steady 
increase were accepted as inevitable. As soon, 
however, as a means of practical relief was demon- 
strated, steps were taken at various points to 
apply it. The nature of the new agent was recog- 
nized as such that it was not available in the direct 
treatment of the disease in the human subject; 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

but as the disease in animals was believed to be a 
considerable source of human infection, its control 
in the animal kingdom was recognized as a most 
desirable end to be accomplished. 

This resulted in intense activity among scien- 
tists, students, and practical men, — the end sought 
being full information as to the nature and effect 
of the disease, and a thorough test of the new agent 
to determine whether its claims were valid. Its 
value has been so far demonstrated that it has been 
generally accepted by the veterinary profession as 
a diagnostic of the disease ; and the boards of 
agriculture and cattle commissions of several of the 
States have undertaken, with its aid, the control 
and the suppression of bovine tuberculosis. 

As might be expected, the advent of a claimant 
for so large a measure of public confidence has 
been the signal for no little opposition, discussion, 
criticism, and misunderstanding. Conservative 
scientists at first contradicted and doubted its 
claims ; but they are now, with few exceptions, its 
advocates and defenders, although they do not 
agree on some of the details of its practical appli- 
cation. The cattle owners, who saw in its advent 
a possible source of loss in the exposure of the con- 
dition and the condemnation of a portion of their 
herds, were at first, through what they thought 
was self-interest, disposed to reject its claims and 
resist its use. Many of these, however, recognizing 
that not only public duty, but their real personal 



4 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

interest was involved in the prompt and certain 
purification of their herds, have, after examination 
and observation, accepted the new agent. There 
yet remain a few veterinarians who do not agree 
with the majority of their professional brethren in 
regard to its value, and a considerable section of 
the cattle owners whose fears of the consequences 
of its adoption control their judgment of its value ; 
while the great masses of the public, those who as 
consumers of cattle and dairy products are really 
most interested in the purity and healthfulness of 
their food supply, are as yet hardly aware of the 
real character and importance of the discussion to 
which their attention is occasionally attracted. 

It has been thought best to bring together for 
the information of this public a comprehensive and 
consecutive presentation of the leading features of 
the whole subject, which is herewith published. It 
has been compiled with considerable patience and 
care by one who has endeavored to bring together, 
not an argument in support of any theory, but the 
carefully prepared and expressed opinions of a 
large body of scientific men on this important sub- 
ject. That these authorities agree in their main 
conclusions is not the fault of the compiler. They 
are governed by the facts that have come to them 
in their professional work ; and that they do so 
fully agree is strong presumptive evidence that the 
professionals, rather than their lay critics, are cor- 
rect in their conclusions. 



CHAPTER I. 

GENERAL PREVALENCE OF THE DISEASE. 

Notwithstanding the prominence which this dis- 
ease has attained in the public mind during the 
last two years, there is yet a very indefinite and 
meagre idea of its true proportions. In very many 
minds tuberculosis and '' consumption " are con- 
sidered the same, while in fact " consumption " is 
only one of several forms of tuberculosis. The old 
and indefinite term " scrofula " is more nearly a 
synonym ; but even this fails to convey the whole 
truth. Cholera infantum, cerebro-spinal menin- 
gitis, convulsions in children, and nearly a score of 
other ailments, are all attributed to this one cause. 
Dr. N. Senn says : " The frequency of tubercular 
affections is something appalling. At least one 
person out of every seven dies of some form of 
tuberculosis. Most of the large hospitals contain 
from 25 to 50 per cent of patients afflicted with 
this disease. The ravages of the disease are to be 
seen everywhere, in the shape of disfiguring scars 
of the neck, deformed limbs, and bent spines. 
Health resorts, frequented for years by tubercular 
patients, have become infected to such an extent 



6 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

that there is great danger of the whole popula- 
tion becoming exterminated by this disease. The 
sources of infection in such places have become so 
numerous that it is unsafe to breathe the air. to 
drink the water, or to eat the food prepared in 
houses which for years have been hot-beds for the 
bacillus of tuberculosis, and by persons carrying 
the microbe upon every square inch of their sur- 
face. That whole communities and nations, where 
this disease has been prevalent for centuries, liave 
not been completely depopulated long ago is owing 
to the fact that many persons possess, from the 
time of their birth, a degree of resistance to infec- 
tion that even the direct infection by inoculation 
would prove harmless." 

Dr. Senn also says : "• That large class of ill- 
defined lesions which were grouped under that 
indefinite and vague term 'scrofula,' in the text- 
books of but a few years ago, have been shown by 
recent research to be identical with the recognized 
forms of tuberculosis, etiologically, clinically, and 
anatomically." 

In another chapter he says : " It is but a few 
years since it was thought impossible that any 
other organ than the lungs should be the seat of 
tuberculosis. The different forms of surgical tuber- 
culosis . . . were not correctly understood until 
quite recently, and consequently a rational surgical 
treatment was out of the question. Almost all 
the localized tubercular processes were included 



GENERAL PREVALENCE OF THE DISEASE. 7 

under the general term ' scrofula/ and were re- 
garded as local manifestations of a general dyscra- 
sia, and treated in accordance with this view of 
their pathology. The discovery of the bacillus of 
tuberculosis has rendered the word ' scrofula ' obso- 
lete, and has assigned to the tubercular processes 
in the various organs and tissues of the body their 
correct etiological and pathological significance, 
and prepared the way for their successful surgical 
treatment. There is hardly a tissue in the body 
which may not become the primary seat of tuber- 
cular infection, or which escapes when diffuse dis- 
semination occurs through the medium of the 
general circulation." 

Professor Boyce includes in his discussion of 
tuberculosis the following diseases as belonging in 
the class : cholera infantum, cholera morbus, diar- 
rhoea, dysentery, hydrocephalus, tabes, and phthisis. 

Dr. Clark, of the Medford (Mass.) Board of 
Health, at a legislative hearing in 1892, said that 
in ten years there had been between 190 and 200 
deaths from " consumption, or tuberculosis," in the 
town ; the next greatest cause of death was " heart 
disease," with between 90 and 100 deaths. These 
designations of disease are very indefinite, but the 
figures show an alarming preponderance of the 
disease we are considering. 

In a hearing before a committee of the IMassa- 
chusetts Legislature, in February, 1891, Dr. Ernst 
said of the disease : " It is not confined, as is 



8 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE, 

popularly supposed, to the lungs. Tuberculosis of 
the lungs is commonly known as ' consumption ' ; 
but it occurs in all parts of the body, — as surgical 
tuberculosis of the joints, as tuberculosis of the 
membranes of the abdominal organs, as the local- 
ized skin disease called ' lupus,' which is precisely 
the same thing as tuberculosis occurring elsewhere, 
except that it is located in the skin, and as the 
dreaded disease called ' leprosy '; ... for leprosy, 
I have little doubt, will within a short time be in- 
cluded under the head of tuberculosis." 

Those who have most carefully considered the 
subject are now practically agreed that tuberculosis 
is by far the most fatal disease in the human family. 
Their opinion is thus summarized by Dr. Law : — 

'' Tuberculosis is equivocal and underhand in its 
method, slow and uncertain in its progress, and on 
this account escapes recognition, and proves by far 
the most deadly of any single disease attacking the 
human family. The average ratio of deaths from 
tuberculosis to the total mortality is 14 per cent, or 
one death in every eight, while under special condi- 
tions it rises to one in three. . . . But the deaths 
from tuberculosis being constant and uniform, peo- 
ple accept them as inevitable, and fold their idle 
hands in true Mohammedan fatalism, instead of 
boldly exposing the hidden death-trap, and cutting 
short its destructive work. 

" If the 5,490 deaths from tuberculosis which 
occur every year in the city of New York could be 



GENERAL PREVALENCE OF THE DISEASE. 9 

brought together in an epidemic lasting but one 
week, no small-pox, cholera, nor yellow-fever scare 
would approach the panic which would thus be 
created, for when did all those diseases create such 
mortality in this city ? Nay, if we take the whole 
civilized world, and compare with the tuberculosis 
mortality all the accumulated deaths from war, 
plague, cholera, yellow-fever, and small-pox, we find 
that the latter are comparatively very insignificant. 
Yet tuberculosis, like every germ-disease, is abso- 
lutely preventable, and is allowed to continue its 
career of death only because of reprehensible, igno- 
rant, and criminal indifference." 

Professor Hills and Dr. Rich say : " When con- 
ditions have favored its spread, tlie death-rate from 
tuberculosis has been as high as 50 per cent of all 
mortalities. Many of the fatal bowel troubles of 
infants have their origin in tubercular infection. 
An article in the ' Archives de Medecine ' says that 
' of the population of the globe three millions die 
annually of consumption.' " 

Dr. Abbott, at a hearing before a Massachusetts 
legislative committee, stated the annual number of 
deaths per 10,000 inhabitants in tliat State from 
tuberculosis to be, from 1870 to 1879, 33.4 ; from 
1880 to 1889 it was 29.7. Of the apparent decrease 
he said : " 1 do not, and I think that the physicians 
generally do not, take that as an indication that the 
causes of consumption or tuberculosis are less {)reva- 
lent than formerly. I do think that the intelligence 
of the people as to the promotion of consumi)tion, 



10 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE, 

and that it is an infectious disease, is one of the 
explanations of this variation." 

Dr. Lagneau, a noted French authority, compiled 
the statistics of 602 localities in France, to show 
that the more dense the population the more preva- 
lent is tuberculosis. The per cent who die annu- 
ally from tubercular phthisis to every one thousand 
inhabitants appears as follows : — 

Ninety-five cities, with less than 5,000 inhabitants, 
1.81. Three hundred and thirty-two cities, with be- 
tween 5,000 and 10,000 inhabitants, 2.16. One hun- 
dred and twenty-seven cities, with between 10,000 
and 20,000 inhabitants, 2.71. Fifty cities, with be- 
tween 20,000 and 30,000 inhabitants, 2.88. Forty-six 
cities, with between 30,000 and 100,000 inhabit- 
ants, 3.05. Eleven cities, with between 100,000 and 
430,000 inhabitants, 3.63. Paris, with 2,424,703 
inhabitants, 4.90. 

Lehmann, of Copenhagen, gives as the results of 
the total deaths in that city for a period of twenty 
years, from revised death certificates, the following 
as the per cent of deaths from tuberculosis at dif- 
ferent ages, with sex division : — 

Age. Male. Female. 

1 to 5 years 1.83 1.97 

5 to 10 *' 10.36 11.97 

10 to 15 " 15.53 32.03 

15 to 20 " 37.4 42.68 

20 to 25 " 35.5 33.1 

25 to 35 *' 41.5 33.6 

35 to 45 '^ 31.7 29.9 

45 to 55 *' 29.9 23.8 



GENERAL PREVALENCE OF THE DISEASE, H 

He remarks, in commenting on his tables, that in 
the female sex from fifteen to forty-five years of age, 
every third person died of tuberculosis. 

Wahl of Essen furnishes similar tables from that 
city, showing the per cent of total deaths resulting 
from tuberculosis as follows : to 5 years of age, 3.7 
per cent ; 6 to 20 years, 23.1 ; 21 to 40 years, 35.1 ; 
40 to 60 years, 34.7 ; over 60 years, 12.8. The 
average for all ages is 15 per cent. 

Dr. Salmon writes of the history of the disease 
that it has been known for many centuries, and 
legislative enactments having reference to the de- 
struction of affected animals, and forbidding the use 
of the flesh, date far back into the Middle Ages. He 
says : " The opinions entertained regarding the na- 
ture and cause of the malady varied much in differ- 
ent periods, and very markedly influenced the laws 
and regulations in vogue. Thus, in the sixteenth 
century, the disease was considered identical with 
syphilis in man. In consequence of this belief very 
stringent laws were enacted, which made the de- 
struction of tuberculous cattle compulsory. In the 
eighteenth century this erroneous conception of 
the nature of the disease was abandoned, and all 
restrictions against the use of meat were removed. 
Since that time, however, the tide of opinion has 
again turned against the disease." 

The Vermont Experiment Station Bulletin de- 
fines tuberculosis as a general name for a class of 
diseases which attack various organs, and wliich 



12 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

both man and animals readily contract. It states 
that the human death-rate from the disease in its 
numerous forms is one in four of the total, and that 
its extent among cattle cannot be accurately stated, 
owing to a lack of systematic inspection. 

Professor Walley writes : '' Tubercle is a visible 
local manifestation of a constitutional diathesis, 
' scrof ulosis.' While this proposition is in the main 
correct, it must not be assumed that tubercle does 
not originate independently of the constitutional 
condition known as ' scrofulosis.' From a variety 
of causes, or rather from a concatenation of circum- 
stances (not yet distinctly understood), tubercular 
inflammation may be established, and the usual 
local manifestation (tubercle) be produced ; and 
in different ways tuberculosis can be originated in 
the systems of animals in which not a trace of 
scrofula is to be discovered." 

Of ihQ gravity of the disease, Professor Walley 
says : '' Looking at an individual tubercle, we might 
be led to despise its comparative insignificance, and 
to ignore its deadly meaning ; but when we see 
thousands upon thousands of these knots existing 
in the organism of a single animal, a truth is forced 
upon our minds which we cannot refuse to recog- 
nize, — namely, that we have to deal with an insid- 
ious, implacable, and deadly foe. And, indepen- 
dently of its ultimate fatality, I think I may with 
safety reiterate what I have before asserted, that no 
morbid substance known to the pathologist is so 



GENERAL PREVALENCE OF THE DISEASE. 13 

protean as tubercle in the number of functional de- 
rangements to which it gives rise. . . . He does not 
take into account the vast deterioration, the slow 
but certain decimation of many of our best herds, the 
destruction of human food, the danger — not, as it 
is now proved, chimerical or hypothetical — to hu- 
man life and human comfort, and the insidious 
progress of that fell destroyer, tubercle. The other 
three bovine scourges sweep their victims off in a 
manner which is seen by all ; but the ravages of 
tubercle are only realized by those whose duties 
are connected with the public abattoirs, or who 
are called upon to act as arbiters on the nature 
of disease." It is a sad commentary on the above 
that within a few weeks, and after it was copied 
from his work, Professor Walley himself has died 
from the disease, acquired three years ago by inocu- 
lation in connection with his profession. 

The frequent failure of proper diagnosis, and the 
carelessness with which death-returns are often 
made up, seriously complicate any attempt to defi- 
nitely show the real prevalence of this disease. 
It appears in numerous and varied forms in the 
human subject ; and while a physician might be 
aware that they were all referable to tuberculosis, 
the general public has no knowledge that even 
suggests this fact. The list of locations of the dis- 
ease in the animal body, elsewhere given, suggests 
something of the carelessness that is possible in 
defining the disease. 



14 TUBERCULOSIS AMOXG CATTLE. 

In a recent discussion by the Massachusetts Asso- 
ciation of Boards of Health, the matter of death- 
certificates was discussed, and there was general 
agreement of opinion that there is much need of a 
greater degree of accuracy. Dr. William Y. Fox, 
of Taunton, presented statistics showing that in 
his city, from 1889 to 1893 (four years), there were 
defective certificates in about 22 p>€r cent of the 
entire record. That Taunton is not alone in this 
direction he showed by citing other returns, from 
which it appeared that in 1893 Haverhill had 14 
per cent of worthless certificates, Worcester had 
1- per cent, Woburn 15 per cent. Lawrence 18 per 
cent, Newton 11 per cent, Marlborough 14 per cent, 
and Xew Bedford 19 per cent. It is quite clear 
that the public will remain ignorant of the real ex- 
tent of the effect of tuberculosis until its numerous 
and varied forms of manifestation are better known 
through increased attention to correct diagnosis, and 
through general education on the subject. 



CHAPTER IT. 

THE DISEASE IN THE LOWER ANIMALS. 

Experiments carefully made and widely observed 
show that tuberculosis affects a far wider range of 
animals than any other disease. Horses and sheep 
are popularly supposed to be free from infection, 
under ordinary conditions, but they can readily 
receive it by inoculation. 

On the other hand, fowls, cats, guinea-pigs, rab- 
bits, swine, and neat cattle are very susceptible to 
the disease, either by natural or artificial infection. 
While nearly all domestic animals may take on 
and impart the disease, fowls, swine, and cattle are 
recognized as most dangerous, from their favorable 
conditions for its dissemination. 

Until the discovery, in 1891, of the efficacy of 
tuberculin as a detective of the disease, there was 
no possibility of ascertaining to what degree it 
prevailed in live animals. The statistics from the 
slaughtering establishments are of little value, be- 
cause of the varying regulations in different coun- 
tries. Eeports from European countries represent 
a wide range, — Eadcn showing only 2 per cent of 
disease found at the abattoirs, while France reports 



16 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

5 per cent. On the other hand, Paris reports 6 per 
cent, HoHand 20 per cent, Pomerania 50 per cent, 
and Hanover 60 to 70 per cent. Such variations 
cannot be due to differing conditions so much as to 
local regulations and inspection requirements. 

Professor Hills and Dr. Rich, after alluding to 
the conditions which make it impossible to secure 
positive data on this subject, say : — 

" Probably many of the estimates given by vari- 
ous authors are based on faulty or insufficient data. 
The following examples may serve to some extent 
to indicate its prevalence. The extremes are wide, 
being from 2 per cent (among 2,273,547 cattle, 
mostly steers killed in the meat inspection districts 
of the United States from May 15, 1891, to March 
1, 1892) to 60 or 70 per cent (at Hilderstein, Han- 
over, according to Haarstick). In a large number 
of German abattoirs it is stated that 6.9 per cent 
of the cows, 3.6 per cent of the steers, 2.6 per cent 
of the bulls, and 1 per cent of the young stock were 
tuberculous. Of 1,270,604 animals slaughtered in 
German abattoirs from October, 1888, to October, 
1889, 26,352, or 2 per cent, were tuberculous. Care- 
ful post-mortems by skilled veterinarians showed 
12 per cent of tuberculous animals out of 12,000 
slaughtered in England as affected or exposed to 
contagious pleuro-pneumonia (a disease entirely dis- 
tinct from tuberculosis). In seventeen counties in 
New York State the inspectors of the State Board of 
Health found 3.4 per cent of tuberculous cattle out of 



THE DISEASE IN THE LOWER ANIMALS. 17 

20,000 inspected. Cattle slaughtered at Baltimore 
were found tuberculous to the extent of from 2.5 
per cent to 3.5 per cent, while of 1,153 cattle from 
the Eastern States (mainly New England), slaugh- 
tered at Brighton, Mass., 52, or 4.5 per cent, were 
tuberculous. Doctors Salmon and Smith state that 
' it is not far from the truth to assume . . . that 
one of every fifty head of cattle in the more densely 
populated areas of Europe and America is tubercu- 
lous.' Dr. Salmon states yet later, however, that 
' the ideas in regard to the prevalence of tubercu- 
losis have been radically changed by the facts 
brought out in using tuberculin.' " 

As long ago as 1890 it was determined that 4.5 
per cent of cattle slaughtered at Berlin were tuber- 
culous, while one abattoir in Upper Silesia reported 
9.5 per cent. 

Professor J. J. Mackenzie, in discussing tubercu- 
losis in a paper printed in 1892, said : "That the 
disease is common in cattle needs no specific proof 
from me. We may accept it as more than prob- 
able that in ordinary milch cows in the provinces 
[Dominion of Canada] the percentage of animals 
affected may reach six per cent : that, at any rate, 
has been shown to be the case in countries where 
exact data have been obtained. In the expensive 
in-bred stock, such as the Jerseys, the percentage 
is higher, — so high in fact that it is very startling 
to think of." 

The chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry for 



18 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

Maryland reports that of cows killed for beef in the 
Baltimore slaughter-houses about 3.1 per cent proved 
tuberculous. In six months, so long ago as 1889, 
he inspected 122 stables supplying milk to Balti- 
more, with 1,611 cows, and found 11.3 per cent to 
be badly tuberculous. This was by physical exami- 
nation only ; later experience with tuberculin sug- 
gests that its use then and there would have re- 
vealed a far more serious condition of affairs. 

The experience of the Massachusetts Commis- 
sion in the work brought to them through the local 
inspectors in cities and towns indicates a much 
wider prevalence of the disease than appears at 
Nantucket. The local inspectors are required to 
examine all the cattle in their districts twice each 
year, and to report all cases suspected of tubercu- 
losis to the Commission. All cases thus reported 
are tested with tuberculin by the expert agents of 
the board. Under this system some large herds 
have been almost entirely destroyed. In each of 
two herds, one near Boston and tlie other in the 
Connecticut River valley, of 65 animals each, 60 
were killed from each herd, and all showed the 
disease on autopsy. In several other large herds 
fully one half were taken. In this department of 
their work the Massachusetts Commission has found 
nearly all the animals condemned to show the dis- 
ease in very pronounced and advanced forms. 

In connection with the report of Professor Ernst 
and Dr. Peters to the Massachusetts Society for 



THE DISEASE IN THE LOWER ANIMALS. 19 

Promoting Agriculture, of their work in investigat- 
ing the transmission of tuberculosis by means of 
milk, the latter gentleman especially discusses the 
prevalence of bovine tuberculosis. He quotes 
Fleming's Manual of Veterinary Sanitary Science 
or Police : " Tubercular phthisis, or tuberculosis, 
probably prevails among the domesticated animals 
over the entire globe, though its frequency will 
depend upon various external influences, as well as 
the constitutional tendencies of different species 
and breeds. ... In Europe, particularly in the 
cow-sheds of the larger towns and cities, it is 
extensively prevalent, and in this country [Eng- 
land] it has long been recognized as a common 
disorder among animals, but more especially as 
affecting the bovine species." 

Professor Walley counts contagious pleuro-pneu- 
monia, rinderpest, foot-and-mouth disease, and tu- 
berculosis as the '' four great bovine scourges," 
and Dr. Peters says the last named is the only 
one " staring us in the face, and challenging us to 
combat, if we are not afraid to grapple with it." 

In connection with his work. Dr. Peters sent out 
about 350 circulars to veterinarians in various parts 
of tlie United States, asking as to the frequency or 
infrequency of tuberculosis in their practice. Only 
79 replies were received. Of these, 21 had no 
cattle practice, 19 reported " no cases," and only 39 
reported any contact with the disease. From the 
last class, in seventeen different States, most of 



20 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

them reporting for one year only, 549 cases were 
reported, with 242 suspicious cases, — a total of 791 
in 165 herds containing about 3,000 animals ; that 
is, where the disease existed, about 18 per cent 
were diseased, with 8 per cent suspicious, — a total 
of 26 per cent. It should be borne in mind that 
all these reports were based only upon physical 
examination. What would be the result if tuber- 
culin were applied to these herds, is a matter for 
grave consideration. 

The New York State Commission on Tuberculo- 
sis in Cattle, in their report to the Legislature, 
January, 1895, say: '^ During the short time since 
its creation this Commission has carefully studied, 
by a system of special inspection, the prevalence, 
distribution, mode of infection, and general behavior 
of tuberculosis in cattle, confining part of its work 
to a given area which was thought to be com- 
paratively free from general infection from other 
sources. In this district 947 animals were exam- 
ined, and out of this number 66 were condemned 
and slaughtered. A dissection of each animal 
showed it to be tuberculous, showing 6.96 per cent 
diseased ; and it is believed that this is a fair 
average if the State were taken as a whole. ^ A 
large proportion of these animals were common 
stock, which fact controverts the opinion, which 
obtained very generally hitherto, that common 
bovine animals have immunity from tuberculosis. 
Tuberculosis is not a respecter of breeds. The 



THE DISEASE IN THE LOWER ANIMALS. 21 

disease once introduced into a herd spreads with 
certainty, throughout, and with a rapidity propor- 
tionate to the unsanitary surroundings. Cattle 
kept in well-ventilated stables, with free admission 
of sunlight, are less prone to the disease, while 
those kept in dark, ill-ventilated stables, amid hlth 
and unsanitary environments, develop the disease 
rapidly, once it is introduced." 

Dr. J. F. Winchester, of Lawrence, Mass., a 
veterinarian, and in 1888 a member of the State 
Cattle Commission, collected all attainable informa- 
tion on the prevalence of the disease in this State. 
In the report of the Board of that year, his results 
are given, showing that reports from thirty -four 
farms, with 886 animals, showed 243 animals, or 
28 per cent, killed as diseased, and 189 animals, or 
21.33 per cent, ''suspicious." On fifteen other 
farms, with 244 animals, he found over 11 per cent 
by physical examination showing symptoms of the 
disease, beside 10 per cent " suspicious." 

The Tuberculosis Committee at the Veterinary 
Congress of America, in connection with the Chi- 
cago Exposition, 1893, in discussing the indefinite- 
ness of statistics of the disease, said : '' We have 
no regular inspection of herds nor a complete 
inspection of meat. It is only possible to glean 
facts relating to the extent and distribution of the 
disease incidentally, when cattle are examined with 
other ends in view. Even if we had an organized 
inspection of herds, the result of such an inspection 



22 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE, 

would not teach us how much tuberculosis is pres- 
ent among our cattle, because the disease is notori- 
ously hard to discover in the living animal, except 
when advanced ; and breeders and farmers wlio 
have had some experience with it are clever enough 
to remove animals that show the first suspicious 
symptoms. It is only by an extensive examination 
with tuberculin, or a thorough and well-organized 
system of meat inspection, that reliable statistics 
can be obtained." 

This committee, in discussing the dangers from 
the disease, place its transmission through the meat 
and milk to man as first, and its transmission 
among cattle as second in importance. 

Occasionally \hQ statement appears that there is 
less of tuberculosis, human or bovine, now than 
there was a score or two of years ago. That this 
is a superficial and unfounded idea appears from 
the fact that Professor Walley, in 1874, quoted the 
Veterinary Record of 1847, in its allusion to a case 
of tumors of bovine tuberculosis as " similar to some 
we have occasionally seen," and saying, " On this 
subject our English veterinary authors are silent, 
and we believe the above to be the only case of the 
kind recorded." That the post-mortem appearances 
of the disease were unknown to English veterinaries 
of half a century ago argues that the disease itself 
was practically unrecognized. It is also true that 
at no very remote time medical men made no 
distinction between syphilis and tuberculosis ; and 



THE DISEASE IN THE LOWER ANIMALS. 23 

it is less than a quarter of a century since glanders 
and tuberculosis were considered the same disease. 
Professor Walley committed himself to this state- 
ment in 1872. These facts justify the conclusion 
that there are no statistics covering any considera- 
ble period that are of any value as a basis of com- 
parison as to the prevalence of the disease. 

Bulletin No. 27 of the Hatch Experiment Station 
of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, issued 
in December, 1894, gives a history of tuberculosis 
in the College herd, from which it appears that even 
at this presumably well-informed institution, in the 
year 1871, a well-defined case of the disease failed 
of recognition. On post-mortem examination, ''it 
was found that the pleural surface of the thorax 
was thickly studded with large and small nodular 
growths, some of wliich were filled with pus and 
others with caseous or calcareous material. The 
true nature of these excrescences was not recog- 
nized. No one even suspected that they were the 
result of disease, but regarded them as an abnormal 
growth and a curiosity." 

Two years later another animal died, of which 
the Annual Report says : '' The disease was a most 
obscure one ; but her trachea, lungs, liver, ])lcura, 
and whole thoracic cavity, w^ere affected with a 
morbid growth, apparently of a scirrhous nature. 
. . . In this connection I may mention that by 
many cow-doctors the symptoms were referred to 
horn-ail ; and it was only with the greatest difiiculty 



24 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

that I prevented the most zealous from boring the 
suffering creature's horns and stuffing them with 
cayenne pepper, spirits of turpentine, and other 
soothing preparations." In the Report of IST-i 
this case is identified as tuberculosis. 

That such clear ilhistrations of the disease 
could fail of identification in such an institution 
is suggestive of the denser ignorance which must 
have pervaded the public at that time, and which 
unfortunately is not yet entirely dissipated. 

The limitation of tuberculosis to pulmonary con- 
sumption is still a popular error, and not a few 
medical men still fail, in their returns of death 
causes, to recognize the full list of diseases that are 
tuberculous. On the other hand, modern classifi- 
cation is tending to closer differentiation, as several 
classes of • cases once entered as '-consumption" 
now appear under newer names. It is therefore 
extremely difficult to make a fair comparison of 
statistics so as to determine with any certainty 
whether tuberculosis is or is not on the decrease in 
the human race. 

Those writers who admit that the disease has 
thus decreased, find an explanation of this in the 
increased attention paid to sanitation under the 
influence of modern boards of health, and especially 
in the present general recognition of the infectious- 
ness of the disease, and the consequent practica- 
bility of controlling it by preventive measures. 



CHAPTER III. 

ITS VARIED SYMPTOMS AND APPEARANCES. 

The slower progress of tuberculosis as compared 
with other infectious diseases has aided in the gen- 
eral indifference with which it has been regarded. 
In its acute form it often runs its course in a few 
weeks, but its usual manifestation is of a chronic 
and dilatory character, often lasting for years. 

The disease attacks many of the organs of the 
body, and it often makes considerable progress in 
one organ before others are involved. This results 
in great difficulty in recognizing its presence in 
its earlier stages, or in identifying it where some 
difficulty or disease is indicated. Often the disease 
is well established before any noticeable indication 
is seen, and as often the symptoms are so varied, 
as one or another organ is affected, that there can 
be no certainty of recognizing it. 

Cases are frequent where the animal appears 
to be in excellent condition in every way, and on 
autopsy extensive and long-seated disease of some 
one or more organs is exposed. In one cnse a 
Boston merchant with a thoroughbred herd of oiu* 
hundred animals suspected the presence of tuber- 



26 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

culosis, and employed a veterinarian to apply the 
tuberculin test. He had exercised his own best 
judgment, after twenty years of close study of 
his herd, in the selection of two young cows 
which he fult sure were free from the disease, 
and these he had set aside to supply his own 
family with milk and butter. He was confounded 
when the tuberculin test pronounced these two 
animals diseased, and could hardly accept the 
verdict ; but when they were killed, with thirteen 
others, and the autopsy showed them the worst 
diseased animals in the herd, his astonishment was 
equalled only by his distress over the peril to 
which he had unwittingly exposed his family. This 
is but one of several similar cases that have oc- 
curred in the work of the Massachusetts Cattle 
Commission. 

On the other hand, cases are of frequent occur- 
rence where careful and experienced owners and 
the best veterinarians have examined animals that 
were badly out of condition and might well have 
been killed on general principles, and have felt sure 
that they were affected by tuberculosis, even when 
tuberculin said they were not, but found their opin- 
ion contradicted by the facts at the autopsy, no 
traces of the disease being discernible. 

Such experiences confirm the general opinion of 
all experts, that physical examination alone really 
counts for but little in the discovery of the disease. 
If physical examination was alone available, the 



ITS SYMPTOMS AND APPEARANCES. 27 

task of eradicating or even of controlling the disease 
would be a hopeless one. 

Especially where the disease attacks the lymphatic 
glands, its recognition by physical examination is 
very uncertain, and is certainly much delayed. The 
affection of the bronchial and mediastinal glands 
lying between the lungs, and of the mesenteric 
glands amid the involutions of the intestines, is sim- 
ilarly concealed and of doubtful detection. And, 
besides, these glands are subject to other diseases 
of less dangerous character ; so that, if disease 
is recognized there, its true character cannot be 
declared. 

In acute cases, and in chronic cases where the 
disease involves a large portion of the internal 
organs, there is usually a feverish condition, loss of 
flesh, sinking and dulness of the eye, roughness of 
the coat, rigidity of the skin, and other attendant 
symptoms of illness ; but all these may be present 
without tuberculosis. They are sure symptoms of 
illness, but they make no certain declaration of 
its character. 

It is a popular, but an unfounded notion, that 
this disease is only of the lungs, and that a cough 
is its only certain indication. That the disease is 
far more varied in its location has already been 
stated. That a cough is i\\Q certain indication of 
the disease in cattle, even wlien the lungs are af- 
fected, is also a delusion. All cattle cough more 
or less when in health, and an observer needs far 



28 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

more than ordinary training to determine with any 
certainty the difference between a normal cough 
and the cough of tuberculosis. 

The tuberculous cough is described as small, dry, 
and wheezing, or rattling, and may be expected to 
follow the drinking of cold water, or unusually vio- 
lent exercise. A trained observer may sometimes 
detect the disease, if it is located in the lungs, by 
tapping on or listening on the walls of the chest ; 
but the anatomy of the animal, the frequent and 
varying sounds in the stomach and bowels, and the 
pressure of these when distended against the lungs 
by their contents, so complicate the sounds that no 
certain conclusion can be reached by these means. 
The fact that in tuberculosis the disease often scat- 
ters itself in small masses throughout the whole lung 
tissue, while most other lung diseases involve large 
masses and finally the whole structure, renders the 
sounding of the lungs but an uncertain test. Often 
the nodules are found scattered through the lungs 
like plums in a pudding, when no information could 
be secured by tapping or listening. 

In advanced cases, where the lungs or the glands 
of the throat are involved, the breathing is some- 
times labored, and there is an offensive discharge 
from the nostrils. When the disease is general 
throughout the body the animal may curl and writhe, 
and perhaps cough or groan, if the back is strongly 
pinched over the shoulders or loins, or above the 
breast-bone, or if the ribs are struck sharply by 
the fist. 



ITS SYMPTOMS AND APPEARANCES. 29 

Dr. Law says : " In the advanced stages of lung 
tuberculosis any one can recognize the consumptive 
animal. It is miserably poor, and wastes visibly 
day by day ; the dry coat of hair stands erect; the 
harsh, scurfy skin clings tightly to the bones ; the 
pale eyes are sunken in the sockets, tears run down 
the cheeks ; yellowish, granular, fetid, and often 
gritty discharges flow from the nose ; the breathing 
is hurried and catching, the breath fetid ; the cough 
is weak, painful, and easily roused by pinching the 
back or breast, or striking the ribs. Temperature 
may vary from below normal, 101, to 107 degrees 
Fahrenheit." 

In sucking calves, tuberculosis, if received in the 
milk, shows itself in bowel troubles, with enlarge- 
ment of the intestinal glands and their filling up 
with the tuberculous deposits. In mature animals, 
when the disease attacks the digestive apparatus its 
especial symptoms are capricious appetite, bloating, 
scouring, costiveness, colic, and even more emacia- 
tion than when the lungs alone are involved. The 
temperature usually increases as the disease pro- 
gresses in activity. 

When the disease is well established in the sexual 
organs there is abnormal excitement. The cow is 
frequently in heat, but fails to conceive. There is 
often a whitish discharge from the vulva, and ele- 
vated temperature is frequently observed. The liver 
is often one of the early seats of infection, and the 
attendant symptoms are quite like those where the 



30 TUBERCULOSIS AMOXG CATTLE. 

bowels are affected. When the kidneys and bladder 
are involved there is tenderness of the loins, which 
may be detected by pinching. There is also, in some 
cases, frequent urination, and the fluid sometimes 
shows trax3es of blood,, or of purulent matter. 

The 2:lands of the throat are often the first seat 
of the disease, the infection coming from inhaling or 
swallowing the dry bacilli floating in the atmosphere. 
There is a wheezy sound in breathing, and the glands 
at the base of the tongue and along the throat are 
enlarged, those on one side usually more than on 
the other. They may be reduced in size, and much 
harder than normal, or soft and vieldine if handled. 
A loose cough sometimes attends the throat trouble, 
with difficult swallowing and a discharge of slime 
from the mouth. When the tubercles are located in 
small masses along the lining of the throat and air 
passages, there is a harsh and spasmodic cough. 
When the lungs are first infected it often occurs that 
the bacilli pass to the mouth with the sputum, and 
from there are swallowed to infect the intestines. 

The udder is usually attacked one quarter at a 
time, with swelling which may involve the whole 
gland. The lymphatic glands in the front and rear 
of the udder are much enlarged and hardened, 
so as to be readily felt on examination. In some 
cases the milk shrinks in amount, and is thin and 
watery ; but often the disease advances until the 
whole udder is infiltrated with the products of the 
disease before any reduction in the amount of milk 
is observed. 



ITS SYMPTOMS AND APPEARANCES, 31 

There is a small gland in front of each shoulder- 
blade in a cow, which is often sought for in judging 
of her milking quality. This is frequently affected, 
and its enlargement and undue hardness may be 
easily felt, especially in thin cattle. A similar gland 
hi front of the stifle, which is likewise sought for 
by the buyer, may also disclose the presence of the 
disease by its enlargement. Glands on the sides of 
the udder, and those at the lower part of the chan- 
nel containing the jugular vein, have similar mani- 
festations. There is occasional manifestation of 
the disease about the stifle and hock joints, with 
hard enlargements, causing lameness. In extreme 
cases the bone is so diseased as to crumble, and 
expose itself through the skin. 

Although the foregoing presents a formidable 
array of symptoms, supposably easily recognized, 
it must be remembered that all are rarely present 
in a single case ; and usually each is so masked, 
or so characteristic of some other ailment, as to 
confuse and confound even the expert veterina- 
rian. Beside, it must be remembered that the affec- 
tion of one organ with the disease sooner or later 
leads to the affection of others. Thus the expecto- 
rations from diseased lungs, rising to tlie moutli, 
may pass into the stomach and bowels, and these, 
being affected, send the disease to every other organ 
by means of the circulation. 

Professor Walley recognized the difliculty of de- 
termining the presence of tuberculosis by physical 



32 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

examination. In 1879 he wrote : " Acute tubercu- 
lar disease of an organ may give rise to no symp- 
toms of a positive cliaracter. Particularly would 
this be so in the case of an orean havins; no external 
outlet ; and even where one exists, it would be of 
far less aid to us in acute than it would in chronic 
disease. In acute hepar tuberculosis, for instance, 
there might be no symptom which would not be 
equally present in acute hepatitis from any cause ; 
so in acute pulmonary, renal, or intestinal tubercle, 
nor either in acute or chronic, should we have any 
symptoms to guide us, where the disease is confined 
to the internal lymphatic glands. In chronic tuber- 
culosis of organs having an external outlet there is 
always just the possibility of our being able to de- 
tect, by patient ocular and microscopical exam- 
ination, tubercular elements in the secretions or 
excretions." 

Of the difficulty of diagnosing the disease in its 
pulmonary form. Professor Walley says : " Perhaps 
there is no form of tuberculosis which is more 
likely to be confounded with other affections than 
this ; and the reason is not far to seek. It is simply 
that so many pathological conditions, totally dift'er- 
ent in themselves, give rise to the same physical 
lung symptoms and general constitutional indica- 
tions." It will be generally conceded that, if the 
difficulty of diagnosis is so great when the disease is 
located in the lungs, where its appearance is most 
apparent to the general observer, there is but little 



ITS SYMPTOMS AND APPEARANCES. 33 

hope of a correct diagnosis by physical examina- 
tion when it is located in other and less accessible 
organs. 

Professor Hills and Dr. Rich, after full consider- 
ation in preparing their bulletin on the disease, 
decided that the symptoms are so obscure and 
variable, except in advanced stages, that it was 
inadvisable and would be misleading to attempt 
to give a further description of the symptoms than 
the following, which is from the special report of 
the Bureau of Animal Industry of the United States 
Department of Agriculture on " Diseases of Cat- 
tle Feeding " : "A dry, short, interrupted, hoarse 
cough, which the sick animals manifest in the 
morning at feeding-time, and still more after some- 
what violent exertion. At first these animals may 
be full-blooded, and lay on a considerable amount of 
fat when well fed. As the disease progresses, they 
grow thin, and show more and more those appear- 
ances which indicate diseased nutrition, such as 
staring, lustreless eyes, dishevelled coat, dirty, tense 
skin, which appears very pale in those regions free 
from hair. The temperature of the skin is below 
normal. The loss of fat causes sinking of the eyes 
in their sockets ; they appear swimming in water, 
and their expression is weak. The cough is more 
frequent, but never or very rarely accompanied 
with a discharge. The body continues to emaciate 
even with plenty of food and a good appetite, so 
that the quantity of milk is small. At times in the 

3 



34 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

early stages of the disease, still more in the later 
stages, the diseased animals manifest considerable 
tenderness when pressure is applied to the front 
or sides of the chest, by coughing, moaning, etc. 
Often all symptoms are wanting, in spite of the 
existence of the disease." 





Tuberculosis of the Luxgs. 



(The two cuts show different stages in the growth of the 
tubercles.) 



CHAPTER IV. 

POST-MORTEM REVELATIONS. 

That the impossibility of the diagnosis of this 
disease by physical examination is not an invention 
of those who are advocating the use of tuberculin 
may be seen from the declarations of Monsieur 
Van Hertsen, chief inspector of the Brussels abat- 
toir ; Dr. George Fleming, principal veterinary 
inspector of the British army; and Herr Lydtin, 
principal veterinary surgeon of the Grand Duchy 
of Baden, who, in a report prepared for discus- 
sion at the International Veterinary Congress at 
Brussels, in September, 1883, wrote as follows : — 
" Taking all the circumstances into considera- 
tion, we need not be astonished at the numerous 
voids that still remain in the symptomatology of 
tuberculosis; and it can easily be understood that 
the diagnosis of the disease is looked upon as very 
difficult, and often even impossible. Certainly the 
difficulties in the way of diagnosis are real ; they 
are the consequence, in many cases, of the slow 
and insidious course of the disease, which some- 
times lasts for years, and the phenomena of wliich 
often pass unpcrceived. And, besides, as tlie mor- 



36 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

bid products of the malady may in certain cases be 
deposited in organs which under ordinary condi- 
tions would remain free from them, (as in the 
brain, spinal cord, kidneys, and genital organs,) 
and produce special manifestations, it is scarcely 
possible to trace in a precise and definite manner 
all the symptons which mark the presence of the 
disease in every case." 

The same gentlemen also report the various loca- 
tions of the disease as follows. In the lymphatic 
glands of the head, neck, and chest ; the cervical 
maxillary, sub-maxillary, prescapular, parietal and 
thoracic glands ; mediastinal and bronchial glands ; 
the lungs ; the pleura ; the peritoneum ; the mu- 
cous membrane of the larynx, pharynx, trachea, 
and oesophagus; the brain and spinal cord ; the skin 
of the forehead ; the mesenteric glands ; the omen- 
tum ; the intestinal mucous membranes ; the liver, 
spleen, and kidneys ; the coats of the bladder, the 
vaginal sheath, the testicle, the spermatic cord, 
the prostate gland, the uterus, the fallopian tubes, 
and the ovaries ; the udder ; the cardiac muscle ; 
the muscles of the body, and the bones and the 
articulations. So formidable a list needs no com- 
ment to suggest the unscientific character of the 
idea that tuberculosis is only a lung disease. They 
mention, as exceptional phenomena of the disease, 
a bovine uterus weighing three and a half hundred- 
weight, and a tumor on the heart of an ox weigh- 
ing twenty-seven pounds. 



POST-MORTEM REVELATIONS. 37 

From the writer's observation of several hundred 
autopsies in the autumn of 1894 and the winter of 
1894-95, the following indications are gathered 
as substantially all that may ordinarily be expected 
to appear. 

The establishment of the disease in any organ of 
the body is usually in the form of a lesion, or colo- 
nization and multiplication of the bacilli, resulting 
in a rounded nodule, which is called a tubercle ; but 
this formation is sometimes absent, and a diffused 
permeation of the tissues by the bacilli results in 
only a thickening of the infected part. 

The tubercle or nodule is at first only of micro- 
scopic size ; but its earliest readily visible appear- 
ance is in size like a millet seed, from which this 
stage of the disease is called " milliary." These 
tubercles soon accumulate in masses, and gradually 
change from a red or congested condition to yellow- 
ish gray cheesy masses, in which gritty particles of 
lime salts are present ; and as the disease progresses 
these sometimes are resolved into semi-fluid masses 
of yellowish pus or matter. All these stages may 
be found in a single animal, or only one may be 
found in a single organ. Frequently the cheesy 
mass, instead of developing into the pus stage, 
forms firm and fibrous nodules, which hang in 
clusters from the lungs, or adhere on the walls of 
the chest and abdomen. This form is known 
among butchers as " pearl disease " or '' grapes." 

The thoracic, bronchial, and mediastinal glands 



38 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE, 

of the lower throat between the lungs, the mesen- 
teric glands within the involutions of the intestines, 
and the glands connected with the udder, are often 
greatly enlarged, — from the size of a bean to the 
size of a man's fist, or larger, and filled with a 
cheesy mass of dead tubercle, or with semi-fluid 
pus. 

In discussing the disclosures at sixty autopsies, 

Bulletin No. 7 of the Bureau of Animal Industry 

»/ 

comments on the high percentage of infection in 
the herd in which not more than five or six showed 
physical indications of disease, and says : " The 
concealed character of the disease was not always 
limited to the very mild infections, but in some 
cases considerable lung disease remained unob- 
served during life. Of the sixty animals killed 
only seven, or about 12 per cent, were free from all 
traces of tuberculosis." 

A summary of the disease in this herd, as dis- 
closed by a thorough examination of the head, 
thorax, abdomen, and the glands of the lungs only, 
is given as follows : — 

Total number in the herd 60 

** '<• infected 53 

Retropharyngeal glands affected 9 

'' '' '' only affected 5 

Thoracic organs affected 47 

Lungs affected 20 

Thoracic glands, but not lungs, affected .... 27 

Bronchial glands only affected ...... 5 

Mediastinal glands only affected 5 



POST-MORTEM REVELATIONS. 39 

Lungs diseased and glands healthy 1 

Exclusively thoracic lesions (air infection) ... 26 

Digestive tract and head-glands affected .... 26 

Intestinal walls affected . 1 

Mesenteric glands affected 16 

Portal glands affected 10 

Mesenteric but not portal affected 10 

Portal and not mesenteric affected 4 

Parenchyma of liver involved 2 

Serous membranes affected 2 

Udder glands affected 1 

Dr. Bryce reports four groups of post-mortems, 
in which the per cent of the various organs found 
diseased was as follows : — 

Number in each group . . 58 48 138 7,329 

Lungs 73 

Glands, throat, and lungs . 79 

Pleura 26 

Mesenteric glands ... 10 

Intestines 5 

Liver ....... 42 

Uterus 6 

Spleen 2 2 19 

Udder 7 25 22 

There are reported 7,329 post-mortems in which 
the disease was recognized as follows, in cases 
and per cent. It will be understood that in 
nearly all the cases several separate organs were 
affected. 



70 


82 


75 


56 


61 


29 




7 


55 




22 


48 




1 


2 




14 


28 




1 


10 



40 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

Cases. Per cent. 

General tuberculosis 459 6.26 

Lungs 5,1T8 75.37 

Pleura pulmonalis 3,812 55.49 

Peritoneum and mesentery . . . .3,316 48.27 

Pleura of chest wall 3,209 46.71 

Bronchial and mediastinal glands . 2,022 29.43 

Liver 1,940 28.24 

Spleen 1,273 18.53 

Uterus 699 10.17 

Inguinal glands 364 5.30 

Pharyngeal glands 299 4.35 

Trachea 233 3.39 

Udder Ill 1.62 

Intestinal 89 1.30 

Ovaries 86 1.25 

Lymph glands of liver 80 1.16 

The lymphatic glands of the thorax and abdo- 
men, the heart, kidneys, stomach, brain, bones, 
etc., were found diseased in less than one per cent 
of the cases. 

These figures probably do not represent the 
absolutely accurate proportions of the locations of 
the disease, for so close autopsies as would be 
necessary to find the disease in the obscure loca- 
tions were hardly made in so large a number of 
cases. From personal observations of over 400 
autopsies under the direction of the Massachusetts 
Cattle Commission, the writer feels confident that 
tlie per cent of udder affections above given is far 
under the average. The table is of value, however, 
as illustrating the wide bodily area through which 



POST-MORTEM REVELATIONS. 41 

the disease may be distributed, and to counteract 
the current idea that tuberculosis is only pulmonary 
consumption. 

Among the comparatively infrequent locations of 
the disease are the brain and spinal cord. Dr« 
Salmon quotes Semmer as reporting four lesions on 
the brain in forty observed cases, and remarks : 
" It is not improbable that, owing to the infre- 
quency of exposing the brain and spinal cord, 
tuberculosis there may have escaped the attention 
of pathologists, and it may be that it is not so 
uncommon as is generally supposed." 

This remark is of great importance in consider- 
ing the statistics now accumulating from the work 
in progress in Massachusets and other States. Not 
infrequently post-mortems on fifty animals are held 
in a day, by a single observer. His object is not to 
demonstrate all the manifestations of the disease in 
his subject, but simply to find it present as a basis 
of compensation. When this is accomplished, he 
hastens to another subject ; and each goes on record 
as a manifestation of the disease in the organs 
where he happened to find it first. If the case 
were obscure, he might examine several organs ; 
but if quite clear, he would only make a record 
which as a basis of accurate observation would be 
quite worthless. 

Upon this point Bulletin No. 7 of the Bureau 
of Animal Industry remarks : '' Autopsies upon 
tuberculous cattle arc mainlv made when the tuber- 



42 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

cular virus has become pretty generally dissemi- 
nated through the lymphatic glands, and even over 
the serous membranes and through the various 
vital organs. A determination of the point in the 
body whence the virus has spread is, in many of 
these cases, out of the question. On the other 
hand, when the disease is in the incipient or quies- 
cent stage, it is hidden away in the lymphatic 
glands ; and unless a thorough search is made 
through every gland in certain regions of the lym- 
phatic system, the disease may be overlooked.. 
This search is not likely to be made on general 
principles, for it is exceedingly tedious, and not 
usually of any definite value in diseases other than 
tuberculosis. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE GERM AND THE DISEASE. 

The germ of the disease is a vegetable parasite 
that inhabits animal tissues, and is known as the 
Bacillus tuberculosis. It is rod-shaped, and is va- 
riously described as from ^^-^-^ to -yo^^-q-o ^^^^ in 
length. It can be artificially propagated and culti- 
vated in blood, meat juices, or in gelatine. Its 
favorite temperature is from 100 degrees to 102 
degrees Fahrenheit, and its vitality is destroyed 
by a continued temperature of 167 degrees. Its 
vitality is not affected by drying with moderate 
heat, by frost, or by the gastric fluids. It dies in 
a few hours in direct sunlight, and in a few days 
in ordinary daylight. It has been known to remain 
vigorous in an ordinary room seventy-five days or 
more. 

As dryness does not affect the bacillus, there is 
great danger of infection from the mucous or other 
discharges of those who are diseased. Discharges 
from the throat and nose, dried and pulverized, 
may float in the air as dust, and find lodgment, 
through the breath, in other individuals. 

While absolute heat of 167 degrees kills the 
germ under ordinary exposure, it has been known 



44 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

to survive a supposed higher temperature. The 
uncertainty of temperature under ordinary condi- 
tions of cooking is such as to render unsafe the 
use of anything in which the germ has found lodg- 
ment, especially by those of delicate health. 

Dr. Ernst quotes a series of experiments in his 
own laboratory by Dr. A. K. Stone, " in which this 
organism, after an extreme degree of drying, has 
been shown to retain its vitality and infectious 
properties for a period of three years and a half at 
least." 

Dr. Law quotes a case where in one store, with 
a tuberculous clerk, the dust raised in sweeping 
affected one clerk after another ; and a similar 
scattering of spittle in houses, stores, barns, cars, 
and streets supplies infected dust to spread the dis- 
ease indefinitely. With animals, a manger smeared 
with head discharges from a diseased animal infects 
the next susceptible animal using it. Drinking 
troughs and all stable appliances are also channels 
of infection. The germ survives in water and moist 
earth, and neither salting nor putrefaction will 
render meats innocuous. 

The disease (tuberculosis) of which the germ 
above chronicled is the single prime cause, is as old 
as humanity. It has been long known to prevail, 
both in human and animal forms. As early as four 
centuries before the Christian era Hippocrates de- 
scribed it ; and so long ago as the Middle Ages the 
animal type of the disease was considered conta- 
gious, and the affected flesh was discarded. 



THE GERM AND THE DISEASE. 45 

Infection occurs by breathing the germs, by 
swallowing, or by their entrance through a cut or 
wound. The main sources of infection are the dust 
of dried spittle of consumptives, or other tubercu- 
lous matter breathed or swallowed, contact with 
tuberculous matter or people, or the use of the meat 
or milk of tuberculous animals. 

The fact of contagion from tuberculosis by inha- 
lation, inoculation, feeding, and other forms of 
contact, was demonstrated as early as 1865 ; but 
the true cause of the contagion was not determhied 
until the discovery of the bacillus by Dr. Robert 
Koch, in 1882. He demonstrated the presence of 
the germ in saliva and other secretions, as well as 
in the various forms of the disease in the organs of 
the body ; and he also demonstrated its infectious 
character by inoculations upon various animals 
through the germs obtained from known seats of 
the disease. In closing the paper before the Phys- 
iological Society of Berlin, in which he announced 
the result of his investigations. Dr. Koch declared 
a fact, w^hich later observations by scientists of all 
countries have confirmed : " We can, with good 
reason, say that the tubercle bacillus is not simply 
one cause of tuberculosis, but its sole cause ; and 
that without tubercle bacilli you would have no 
tuberculosis." 

Dr. N. Senn says : " If tlie bacilli are injected 
directly into the circulation, or gain entrance into 
the blood current from some tubercular focus, they 



46 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

become implanted upon the wall of distant capillary 
vessels, and the nodule which forms at the seat of 
implantation consists of cellular elments formed by 
the tissues of the vessel wall. As soon, however, 
as the bacilli reach the extra-vascular tissues, they 
in turn furnish their part of the material for the 
further growth of the nodule. If the tubercle bacil- 
lus becomes implanted upon a mucous surface, — 
as the bladder, intestines, nose, larynx, uterus, etc., 
— if such surface is susceptible to tubercular infec- 
tion, the epithelial cells take an early and active part 
in the inflammatory process. . . . All tissues, when 
infected, take part in the process." 

In summing up a discussion of the germ theory 
of disease. Professor Hills and Dr. Rich say the 
theory is " that those minute plants grow in the 
body ; that the products of their growth are poison- 
ous, and that a definite disease is due to the effects 
of the poisons produced by a definite species of 
germ." 

They also quote the artificial propagation and 
proof of a bacillus, usually called the " four postu- 
lates of Koch," as follows : — 

1. The germs must be found in the blood, lymph, 
or diseased tissues of man or animal, suffering or 
dead from the disease. 

2. The germs must be isolated from the blood, 
lymph, or tissue, and cultivated in suitable media 
outside tlie animal body. These pure cultures must 
be carried on through successive generations of the 
organism. 



THE GERM AND THE DISEASE. 47 

3. A pure cultivation thus obtained must, when 
introduced into the body of a healthy animal, pro- 
duce the disease in question. 

4. In the inoculated animal the same germs must 
be found again. 

Since Professor Koch's announcement, the con- 
nection between the germ and the visible mani- 
festations of the disease has been so thoroughly 
demonstrated that in ordinary practice the detec- 
tion of the germ by the microscope as proof of the 
disease is rarely necessary. In several hundred 
autopsies on diseased cattle witnessed by the com- 
piler of this volume, there were scarcely half a 
dozen cases in which the visible record of the 
disease was not clearly apparent. 

In a discussion of the infection of tuberculosis, 
W. H. Chapin, M. D., of Springfield, said the ques- 
tion is settled in the affirmative forever. But he 
considered the details of infection an important 
subject of study, and had tabulated and analyzed 
the deaths reported from the disease in Springfield 
from 1868 to 1894. He included in the list not 
only cases classed as tuberculosis, but also those 
which seemed to him to belong there, including 
children's brain diseases, etc. He also said that 
many cases of typhoid fever and pneumonia wouhl 
be included if autopsies had been made ; but all 
these he had excluded. 

Dr. Chapin's list included about 4,800 cases, in- 
cluding those confessedly tuberculous, and all cases 



48 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

of convulsions, spinal meningitis, cerebral conges- 
tion, hydrocephalus, cerebro-spinal meningitis, tu- 
bercular meningitis, brain fever, and brain disease 
in infants. He considered that the diagnosis of 
tubercular meningitis is altogether too infrequently 
made. He analyzed the 4,800 cases, and found that 
in 3,372 cases, or 72.5 per cent, no relative had died 
in Springfield of tuberculosis in twenty -five years. 
The proportion of tubercular meningitis to other 
cases of brain disease was about the same in the 
family groups as in the other groups. 

Dr. Chapin found peculiar relations of brain dis- 
eases to other diseases. Thus, of 346 cases of brain 

disease 43 deaths occurred witliin a vear from con- 

%/ 

sumption in the same family, 24 were within two 
years, 18 within three years, and so on ; 12, 11, 12, 
9, 5, and 5, respectively, within nine years. The 
further away we get from deaths from consumption, 
the fewer deaths appear from the allied disease. 
He called attention to the fact that a case of ordi- 
nary consumption occupies about three years, and 
said that 50 per cent of all deaths from brain dis- 
ease in children in tuberculous families occur within 
three years of a death from consumption. He said 
that in districts where houses are new and the 
people are well-do-do, there is less consumption ; 
Avhile among old houses and poor people the dis- 
ease is rampant. Where other infectious diseases 
flourish, tuberculosis flourishes. In these old houses 
the floors and walls are reekinsr with it. 



THE GERM AND THE DISEASE. 49 

Harold C. Ernst, M. D., says he does not believe 
in the hereditary nature of tuberculosis, but thinks 
that the widespread scattering of the infectious 
material and its characteristics account for its 
occurrence in families and in neighborhoods. The 
bacillus is very retentive of life. He considers that 
the expectoration from persons affected with pul- 
monary tuberculosis is the most general source of 
infection ; and he says that the bacillus may be 
found in the spittle before the physical signs of the 
disease appear in a destructive process of the lungs ; 
therefore the earlier stages are most critical, as well 
as most infectious. 

Dr. George H. Bailey, State Veterinarian of Maine, 
says in his Report for 1892 : " The days of discussion 
regarding the heredity and contagion of tuberculosis 
have passed away, and it is no longer possible to 
doubt the dangers to which tuberculous animals ex- 
pose their neighbors and their progeny. So long as 
sucli animals discharge virus by the respiratory and 
digestive passages, and by the mammary secretion 
can infect healthy subjects by its introduction into 
their digestive apparatus with food or drink, or into 
their respiratory apparatus with the atmospheric air, 
they will continue to remain a menace to the public 
health. Rigorously, the theory can be maintained 
that a tuberculous animal is a subject dangerous to 
the property of otliers, and it is not permitted to any 
person wittingly to injure any one ; therefore, if the 
animal that is the source of the injury docs not dis- 

4 



50 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

appear by the good will of the owner, society has 
the right to exact its destruction." 

Dr. Salmon says : " Tuberculosis would not by 
many be considered contagious in the sense that 
foot-and-mouth disease is, because of the insidious 
beginning and slow course of the disease. Yet the 
bacillus must come from pre-existing disease in 
either case." I 



CHAPTER VI. 

ONE DISEASE IN MAN AND CATTLE. 

Beside the proof that mankind are infected with 
the disease by the use of meats and dairy products 
from diseased animals, and that the disease has 
been transmitted from men to animals by inocula- 
tion, the identity of the disease in the two is shown 
by numerous well authenticated instances in which 
it has been taken on by veterinarians and others 
through cuts or scratches received while making 
post-mortem examinations of diseased animals. 

It is beyond question that the germs, the post- 
mortem appearances, and in many respects the 
symptoms of the disease, are the same in man and 
in animals. Professor Hills and Dr. Rich declare : 
" Human tuberculosis infects the lower animals, 
and, what is vastly more important, and the central 
fact, bovine tuberculosis infects man." They ex- 
press the belief that " countless thousands of deaths 
have occurred due to this source of infection, which 
have not been thus described, and of which no record 
has been made." 

Dr. E. 0. Shakespeare, formerly United States 
Cholera Commissioner, says : " With all its terrors, 



52 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

cliolera is not nearly so deadly as tuberculosis ; " 
and " it has been found that in infants and vouno- 
children in some large cities the mortality from some 
form of tuberculosis is far greater than is generally 
believed, amounting in some localities to one fifth 
of the deaths in the young. The significant fact in 
this connection is, that it is most frequently some 
part of the digestive passages that become first 
affected." 

When it is once recognized that the various dis- 
eases are the offspring of the one bacillus, — that 
of tuberculosis, — the questions of infection and 
poisoning by the life product of the bacillus become 
of great importance. 

Whatever may be the relative responsibility of 
cattle and man in the dissemination and the perpet- 
uation of the disease, it is quite certain that there is 
an intimate relation between the two in this regard. 
It is plain that wherever cattle are few or absent 
there is little or no consumption among the people, 
and that wherever civilization has introduced cattle 
consumption has soon followed. 

In the temperate regions of Europe and the United 
States, statistics show that 12 per cent of all deaths 
are from consumption. In New York city the rate 
is reported at 20 per cent. Among the American 
Indians, who use diseased meat without cooking, 
the rate is 50 or 60 per cent. 

Recent statistics show that in Fall River the 
death-rate among children from cholera infantum 



ONE DISEASE IN MAN AND CATTLE. 53 

is 50 per cent more than it is in Boston ; and there 
is reason for the inference that this excess is due 
to the fact that the Fall River mothers wean their 
children very early, and feed them on cows' milk, 
to allow the mothers to resume their mill work. 
If the cows are tuberculous, the excess of cholera 
infantum through the infection of the mesenteric 
glands of the infants would be the natural expla- 
nation of the excessive mortality. 

Dr. Abbott, of the Massachusetts State Board of 
Health, supports this idea. He said in a legislative 
hearing, in 1892 : " The milk supply is one of the 
most important food supplies that we have. It 
begins witli the life of the children, and a large 
number of children are dependent upon the milk of 
cows ; and we know very well that the health of 
such children, as compared with the health of those 
who are fed from their own mothers, is very much 
poorer, and their death-rate is greater. Whether 
this simple question depends on tuberculosis, of 
course I could not say ; but it is certain that tuber- 
culosis may be — I think that it is conceded now 
that it may be — conveyed in this way. ... As 
this is one of the methods that can be controlled 
to a certain extent, it certainly is an important 
matter, and one which measures sliould be taken 
to control." 

Dr. E. F. Brush, of Mount Vernon, N. Y., who 
has given years of attention to the matter, has fre- 
quently published the statement that tuberculosis 



54 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE, 

does not exist among people who do not employ 
milch cattle. Drs. Hills and Rich quote this 
and say : " The inference to be drawn is not that 
human tuberculosis comes mainly from cattle, — 
for man gets his infection mostly from his fellow 
man, — but that possibly the primary source of in- 
fection and more or less of its maintenance and 
extension are due to cattle. Whatever the infer- 
ence, there is little question that human consump- 
tion is relatively less prevalent in countries where 
there are few or no cattle. ... In some of the 
western South American countries cattle are used 
only for beef ; so many cases of consumption have 
been traced to the use of milk that the entire popu- 
lation with scarcely an exception leave it alone." 

Dr. Donohue, in an address elsewhere referred to, 
says that the broad fact is established that a tuber- 
culous cow may give tuberculous milk, and will do 
so if her udder be affected ; and if in a given case 
the tuberculous cow does not give infected milk, 
it is only a question of time when she will do so. 

Irving A. Watson, M.D., says: "It has been 
proven that pulmonary consumption in the human 
family and tuberculosis in animals are precisly the 
same disease ; and that this disease is a commu- 
nicable one, as it is largely, if not wholly, a pre- 
ventable one." 

In a paper read in June, 189-4, before the National 
Live Stock Sanitary Convention, Dr. Kellogg, of 
Michigan, spoke of the identity of tuberculosis in 



ONE DISEASE IN MAN AND CATTLE. 55 

man and animals as " demonstrated," and said : 
" Numerous investigations have shown that the 
products of the dairy are in some sections to a 
most astonishing extent infected with the microbe, 
which is responsible for the loss of more human 
lives than any other, not excluding the organisms 
which give rise to those dreaded maladies, small- 
pox and yellow-fever." He also says that " infec- 
tion of the human race in civilized communities with 
the bacillus tuberculosis has come to be at the 
present time exceedingly common. Indeed, it may 
be said that such infection threatens to become 
universal." 

M. Van Hertsen, Dr. Fleming, and Herr Lydtin, 
w^hose report to the Brussels Congress of 1883 has 
been before alluded to, in summing up the data 
submitted, say : — 

'' We arrive at the conclusion that all the evidence 
points to the fact that tuberculosis of mankind and 
that of animals is one and the same disease, which, 
more than any other, chooses its victims from among 
warm-blooded animals, irrespective of species, pro- 
vided they live in agglomerations. 

" 1. Tuberculosis has been observed in all 
warm-blooded animals submitted to domesticity 
or deprived of their liberty. 

" 2. Tuberculosis in animals and mankind pre- 
sents analogous manifestations, in the living as in 
the dead creature. 

" 3. The course and termination of the disease 
in mankind and animals is the same. 



66 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

" 4. The masses of tubercle, and especially the 
sputa of the phthisical, produces tuberculosis in 
animals when these matters are introduced through 
the respiratory or digestive apparatus, or through a 
deep wound. Tuberculosis, inoculated from man to 
animals, may in its turn be transmitted from one 
animal to another, and always produces tuberculosis. 

" 5. Tuberculosis of man and of animals is 
transmitted by heredity. 

" 6. The disease is contagious in man and ani- 
mals. 

" 7. There are clinical observations which prove 
the transmission of tuberculosis from animals to 
man, by the consumption of the milk of phthisical 
animals. 

" 8. Tuberculosis of animals and man is rare in 
cold climates, where it does not even appear to be 
developed. It is most frequent in Southern coun- 
tries. The tracings of the geographical propaga- 
tion of the disease in man and animals are nearly 
parallel. 

" 9. It is evidently proved that a pathogenic 
microbe, having the same morphological and bio- 
logical characters, exists in the tubercle of man 
and in that of animals. This organism, whether 
it be developed in man or animals, may induce 
tuberculosis when, cultivated in a pure state, it is 
conveyed to the animal possessing the necessary 
receptivity." 




CHAPTER VII. 

PREDISPOSING CAUSES, — NOT HEREDITARY. 

While it is scientifically established that the dis- 
ease is propagated only by its germ, and the old 
idea of the inheritance of the disease is disproved, 
it should be understood that there are certain con- 
ditions of the animal system which may be termed 
predisposing causes. While none of these causes 
can generate tuberculosis in the absence of the 
bacillus, if the bacillus is present the causes con- 
tribute to its development. As in the case of all 
disease, a delicate or debilitated or depleted con- 
dition of the system invites it ; and it will find 
lodgment when a stronger or more healthful con- 
stitution might repel or overcome it. 

Among the predisposing causes usually recog- 
nized, heredity has its place. The germ is not 
inherited, but conditions favorable to its reception 
and development may be. Observations in Saxony 
show that with 165 tuberculous cattle in 1,000, 
there were only two tuberculous calves in 1,000. 
At Lyons only five diseased calves were found in 
400,000, and at Munich there were but two in the 
same number. 



68 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

Close or ill ventilated buildings, dark stables, 
insufficient or unwholesome food, breeding too 
young or too frequently, inbreeding, over-feeding 
to secure abnormal milk production, and, in short, 
any treatment of cattle that tends to debilitate or 
over-stimulate, may be considered as a predisposing 
cause. 

Observation has demonstrated that the idea of 
the heredity of the disease must be replaced by the 
theory that family predisposition invites the disease. 
Thus Dr. Law quotes a case in which in 1877 he 
recognized the disease in a herd of thoroughbreds. 
The worst were slaughtered, and the milder cases 
(young animals) were pastured by themselves dur- 
ing the summer. They indicated robust health 
until after they were housed in the fall, when they 
began to fall away, and after another examination 
eleven more were destroyed. It was ascertained 
later that these two killings had removed every 
representative of a certain family, — not even a 
grade being left. 

Dr. Senn says : '^ It is more probable that the 
hereditary or acquired predisposition to tubercu- 
losis, which must now be recognized as an impor- 
tant element in the causation of the disease, must 
be regarded rather as a diminution of the power of 
resistance inherent in the tissues to the action of 
the specific microbic cause than any characteristic 
anatomical cell defects. From a clinical standpoint, 
it is important that in the causation of tuberculosis 



PREDISPOSING CAUSES, 59 

we must recognize a combination of etiological 
factors; namely, (1) local or general conditions 
resulting from hereditary or acquired causes, which 
diminish the resisting capacity of the tissues to the 
action of the bacillus of tuberculosis, which must 
be regarded as the predisposing cause ; and, (2) the 
presence in the tissues of the essential cause of the 
disease, — the bacillus of tuberculosis. The pre- 
disposing cause can under no circumstances result 
in tuberculosis without action of the essential cause ; 
and the bacillus of tuberculosis is most certain to 
produce its specific pathogenic effect in tissues 
debilitated by hereditary or acquired causes." 

In discussing this branch of the subject Dr. Senn 
also quotes Whittier, who compares the causes 
of syphilis and tuberculosis : " One man is not 
more predisposed to either disease than another. 
Syphilis affects one person more than another, 
because its virus finds a better lodgment upon the 
mucous membrane. Tuberculosis finds also, for- 
tuitously, a better nidus in one case than another. 
The virus of tuberculosis is lodged, in one case, and 
not coughed up ; just as in syphilis the virus is 
secreted, and not washed off." And again : " From 
any deposit of syphilis reabsorption may take place 
at any time, and reinfection with syphilis ; or, bet- 
ter, the reappearance of external signs. So from 
any caseous nodule, wherein the tuberculous virus 
is locked up in temporary innocence, absorption 
may take place under favoring circumstances, and a 



60 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

new outbreak of tuberculous symptoms appear. . . . 
While the virus is thus locked up, the disease is 
latent ; when set free, it is manifest." 

On the effect of unhealthy surroundings, Dr. Law 
says imperfect ventilation spreads infection by ani- 
mals breathing the same air, and by concentrating 
the germs in a confined space ; that diseased cattle 
improve when turned to pasture, and fall away 
when returned to the stable ; that the disease is 
absent or very infrequent on Western ranges, and 
most abundant where cattle are most closely con- 
fined ; that a moist, changeable climate favors germ 
development, while dry and rare air and uniform 
temperature tend to suppress it ; that faulty feed- 
ing lowers the vitality and the animal's power of 
resistance ; that in-and-in breeding, and early, late, 
or too frequent breeding have a similar effect ; and 
that anything resulting in ill health must be viewed 
as a predisposing cause. 

Dr. F. R. Brush of Philadelphia calls the cow 
" the wet-nurse of consumption," and explains the 
connection between animal and man in the fol- 
lowing : — 

'' Scrofulous females in the human race usually 
secrete an abundance of milk, because in scrofula 
there is an unusual tendency to glandular enlarge- 
ment and activity. As the mammary is the highest 
type of glandular structure, it is stimulated to 
increased action. A scrofulous cow is usually the 
largest milker; and the closest kind of consan- 



PREDISPOSING CAUSES. 61 

guinity has been practised by cattle breeders, with 
the object of producing a scrofulous animal, — not 
because she is scrofulous, but because the particular 
form she represents are the largest yielders of milk. 
We find, too, that consanguineous breeding has 
been alleged as one of the causes of tuberculosis in 
the human race, where it can never be conducted 
with so close and intimate blood relations as in the 
dairy animals." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

NATURE AND CERTAINTY OF TUBERCULIN. 

There are but three tests known to veterinary 
science that can be relied upon to declare with any 
degree of certainty the presence of the bacillus of 
tuberculosis in the animal system. These are the 
examination of the animal secretions by the micro- 
scope ; the inoculation of other less valuable ani- 
mals with these secretions ; and the injection of 
tuberculin. Aside from the last named, these tests 
are manifestly impracticable for general use. They 
have long been at the command of scientists, 
and the disease has steadily increased. It would 
be impossible even to control it through these 
agencies. 

The injection of tuberculin is, however, a uni- 
versally available and a practically certain test. 
It declares the presence of the disease with cer- 
tainty in its earliest as well as its later stages. 
Its only failures have been from ignorant or care- 
less use ; and these have thus far been so infre- 
quent as to weigh nothing against its real value. 
As its character and application are better under- 
stood as the result of intelligent experience, even 
these few failures will cease to be reproduced. 



NATURE AND CERTAINTY OF TUBERCULIN. 63 

The present prominence of tuberculin as a diag- 
nostic agent is a curious illustration of the facts 
that a failure in one direction is often a success in 
another, and that no scientific research or discovery 
is without its value as a contribution to general 
knowledge, even if its especial aim is not reached. 
If the latest claim for tuberculin, as recorded at the 
close of this chapter, proves correct, it will also 
illustrate the possible success that often lies beyond 
failure and discouragement. 

A few years ago the medical and scientific world 
was intensely interested in the anouncement of the 
discovery by Dr. Robert Koch, of Berlin, of a lymph 
which was to be a cure for consumption in the 
human family. The results of the tests to which it 
was put by Dr. Koch and others were watched with 
great interest ; and when it was finally determined 
that the discovery was a failure, there was a gen- 
eral sense of disappointment in the scientific world. 
It failed because it was found that, while its early 
promise was encouraging, its final result was usu- 
ally the rapid acceleration of the disease it was 
intended to cure. 

The operation of tuberculin in the human patient 
was carefully watched by Professor Gutman, of 
Dorpat, Russia ; and after its use as a curative 
agent was abandoned, lie was induced to test its 
application as a detector of the disease among 
animals. His observation led to the fact that, 
wherever administered to a tuberculous patient, 



64 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

tuberculin produced a characteristic rise in tem- 
perature and the acceleration of the progress of 
the disease. It was apparent that such a result 
could not be invited in the human patient ; but it 
was entirely proper to invite it if the presence of 
so obscure and so dangerous a disease among dairy 
animals could thereby be demonstrated. He insti- 
tuted a series of experiments in the administration 
of tuberculin, followed by a series of post-mortem 
examinations, through which he learned that his 
theory was correct ; and he was also able to point 
out the features of fluctuation in temperature fol- 
lowing its administration, by which the presence of 
the disease could be demonstrated, and by which it 
could be distinguished from other diseases which 
are attended with a rise in temperature. His dis- 
covery of this valuable property in tuberculin was 
announced in 1892, and its acceptance by the 
veterinary profession is already general throughout 
the civilized world. 

Tuberculin as used in the detection of disease is 
a thick fluid, the agent itself being diluted with 
glycerine, so that there are but three drops in a 
dose of thirty drops, which is the usual application. 

Every infectious disease is transmitted by a germ, 
which, once introduced into the system under favor- 
able conditions, grows and multiplies. This germ 
may or may not be harmful of itself; but each 
throws off as a product of its life a substance 
which also may or may not be harmful. Just as 



NATURE AND CERTAINTY OF TUBERCULIN. 65 

carbonic acid gas is thrown off as a product of 
human life, tuberculin is thrown off or evolved as 
the life product of the tubercle bacillus. It is a 
physiological poison ; and it, rather than its parent, 
the bacillus, is the agent which produces the effects 
of the disease. It cannot enlarge itself, and it 
cannot produce the disease in a healthy system. 
It is quickly and steadily eliminated from the system 
by natural processes ; but while it is present the 
bacilli propagate rapidly, and these in turn throw 
off new supplies of the destructive agent. Thus 
tuberculin in tubercular animals has a continuous 
destructive action, reacting with the germ of which 
it is the product within the body ; while it and its 
associated bacilli are thrown off from the system 
through the various secretions ; the latter are scat- 
tered far and w^ide to infect other animals and the 
human race. 

The process of artificially producing tuberculin 
is as follows. A quantity of the bacilli of tubercu- 
losis is selected and separated from all other bac- 
teria. They are then placed in a tube containing 
the serum or clear part of ox blood, meat juice, or 
any other favorable material, and the mixture is 
kept at blood heat for several weeks. During this 
time there is a rapid increase of the bacilli, and a 
resultant accumulation of tuberculin in the develop- 
ing fluid, or culture, as it is called, until the whole 
mass is saturated. 

The contents of the tube are then subjected to a 

5 



ee TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

heat of 250 degrees Fahrenheit for forty-eight 
hours to kill the bacilli. They die in a temperature 
of 167 degrees, but the higher temperature is in- 
sisted on to make absolutely certain the extermina- 
tion of every germ. Then the contents of the tube 
are filtered through porcelain under air pressure, 
until all the dead remains of the bacilli are strained 
from the liquid. It is again heated to 250 degrees 
to make assurance doubly sure that no germs re- 
main, and then the mass is evaporated to dryness. 

The result is tuberculin, absolutely free from 
any germs. It is then dissolved in glycerine with 
a small proportion of carbolic acid, the dilution 
making a 10 per cent preparation. It is carefully 
put up in vials and securely sealed, to prevent the 
infection by germs that may possibly be in the air ; 
and it is not opened except for the filling of the 
hypodermic syringe vrith which it is administered. 

Its administration is a simple process in compe- 
tent hands, and consists only of the injection of the 
required amount in the cellular tissues just under 
the skin, usually behind the shoulder of the animal. 
The operation is no more painful than the prick of 
a pin, and if the animal operated on is free from 
tuberculosis there is no apparent result. If the 
above description of the production of tuberculin 
is understood, it will be plain to every reader that it 
cannot possibly introduce the disease in any case. 

Professor Hills and Dr. Rich declare that '' the 
detection of tuberculosis in its earlier stages by 



NATURE AND CERTAINTY OF TUBERCULIN 67 

external signs is usually impossible. Unless the 
lesions are in the lungs, even advanced cases are 
hard to detect. An animal in this condition may 
be sleek, fat, and frisky, may give large amounts of 
apparently normal milk, and yet may be infecting 
other stock as well as those using her milk." 

Professor Mackenzie, after describing the physi- 
cal symptoms of the disease, says : " It will be 
seen from this brief outline of the clinical features 
of the disease, that a diagnosis is hardly possible 
until the disease is far advanced, and that even 
then diagnosis may not be considered absolutely 
safe." 

He then discusses the methods of detecting the 
bacilli in milk by the use of the microscope ; but 
he quotes approvingly the conclusion of Professor 
Ernst, that " the virus may be present in the milk 
while yet the closest examination fails to reveal 
the tuberculosis of the udder." 

In this connection he cites the interesting con- 
clusion of Scheurleii, ''that bacteria which are in- 
capable of independent motion (as is the bacillus 
of tuberculosis) settle quite rapidly when submitted 
to centrifugal action ; at least, they separate from 
the milk, but a great percentage are carried up 
with the cream." This opposes a somewhat prev- 
alent idea that the bacilli may be removed from 
milk by the use of centrifugal cronm separators. 
If they are to be concentrated in the cream, and 
later in tlie butter, it is a separation hardly to be 



68 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

desired. The experiment may be of interest in the 
laboratory, but it is useless in the interest of public 
health. 

Dr. Irving A. Watson says : " The great value of 
tuberculin as a means of determining the existence 
of tuberculosis in a herd of animals is far beyond 
that of any other means or methods known. In 
fact, it comes so near being an infallible test that 
the errors of diagnosis based upon its use are prac- 
tically nil. By this means the disease can be de- 
tected when in its incipient stages, long before it 
would be possible for the most skilled veterinary 
surgeon to discover it by the ordinary physical 
examination. In fact, it places in the hands of 
state and national authorities the means through 
which bovine tuberculosis may be eradicated, and 
without which it would not have been possible to 
do more than to hold the disease in check, even if 
that could be accomplished." 

Dr. F. 0. Donohue, Secretary of the New York 
Tuberculosis Commission, in a recent paper read 
before the American Public Health Association, 
stated that his board had made the tuberculin test 
an especial study ; and that they were convinced 
that it was perfectly harmless to healthy animals, 
and that their board condemned no animal that did 
not respond to this test. 

Bulletin No. 7 from the United States Bu- 
reau of Animal Industry, in concluding the reci- 
tal of recent experience with tuberculin, says: ''It 



NATURE AND CERTAINTY OF TUBERCULIN. 69 

is not necessary to repeat the many favorable opin- 
ions expressed by different observers in support 
of the value which is claimed for tuberculin as an 
aid in diagnosing doubtful cases of tuberculosis 
in cattle. The number of instances in which the 
conditions indicated by the results of the injections 
do not conform to the conditions found on post- 
mortem examination is so many times less the 
number of errors from all other methods used to 
diagnose tuberculosis, and there are so many cases 
of tuberculosis which could not possibly be detected 
by any other method, that even they who are least 
inclined to favor the use of tuberculin cannot fail 
to recognize its importance." 

Tlie Connecticut Commissioners on Diseases of 
Domestic Animals, in their report for 1894, describe 
their use of tuberculin as satisfactory. They say : 
'' The trial of tuberculin has been ample for you to 
determine its approximate value as a diagnostic 
agent, both for the detection of tuberculosis in all 
stages and the differentiation between it and other 
conditions. In all those cases tested by your board 
not an instance of failure has yet appeared. Care- 
fully used, with conscientious attention to every 
detail, it appears to be beyond doubt the only 
safe method by which bovine tuberculosis can be 
detected in its earlier stages. Such errors as have 
been reported in the use of this lym[)h have been only 
such as would naturally be expected as incidental to 
a comparatively new experiment, especially when in 



70 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

the hands of those not familiar with its use. It has 
now passed the experimental stage ; and after being 
tested on many thousand animals, we are, I think, 
warranted in agreeing with its most enthusiastic 
advocates that it is indeed one of the greatest of 
modern discoveries in the medical world." 

The impossibility of determining the presence of 
tuberculosis by physical examination is thus stated 
as the result of their experience by the Massachusetts 
Cattle Commissioners, in their report for 1894 : 
" Prior to October 4, the existence of the contagious 
diseases in these animals was determined bv the 
Commission upon a physical examination; and, as 
before stated, in the cases of tuberculosis the results 
were found to be exceedingly unsatisfactory both to 
the Commission and to the owners of the animals. 
The symptoms were so unevenly shown that animals 
which were apparently sound were released, and in 
some cases afterward found to be affected with the 
disease ; in others, animals which appeared to have 
the symptoms of the disease were, after slaughter 
and upon post-mortem examination, found to be 
free from tuberculosis, but affected with bronchitis, 
pneumonia, or other non-contagious disorders ; and 
in this way throughout the State a large number of 
mistakes occurred, notwithstanding the fact that 
the greatest care was taken to prevent them. In 
fact, we were simply repeating the experiences of all 
other countries that had tried to do anything toward 
the removal of tuberculous animals from among 



NATURE AND CERTAINTY OF TUBERCULIN. 71 

their herds, and we felt that the ultimate result was 
sure to be extremely unsatisfactory to all parties 
concerned." 

The latest European conclusions on the subject 
of the use of tuberculin as a diagnostic appear in a 
report of the proceedings in the veterinary section of 
the International Congress of Hygiene and Demog- 
raphy, at Budapest, in September, 1894. Professor 
Bang reported on 340 post-mortems after tuberculin. 
Excluding questionable cases, there were 207 cases 
in which there was well marked reaction ; and of 
these 96 per cent proved tuberculous. He concluded 
that tuberculin was an exceptionally reliable agent 
in the diagnosis of tuberculosis. He said his ex- 
periments showed him that in certain localities 80 
per cent of the cattle are tuberculous. Under such 
circumstances he did not favor killing off all that 
react, but advised that animals showing no clinical 
indications of disease — that is, the milder cases 
— should be preserved. He said these may even 
be used for breeding, by taking the precaution to 
remove the calves when born, and brinQ-ino; them 
up by hand. As most calves which react to tuber- 
culin show intestinal or retro-pharyngeal affection, 
Professor ]>ang thought their disease due to raw 
milk, and advised boiling it from the second day 
onward. This advice suggests his opinion as to the 
infectiousness of milk from tuberculous cows. 

Professor Bang reported tests in Seeland, where 
two years ago he tested 208 cattle on one estate, 



72 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

and found 80 per cent of the cows, 40 per cent of 
the steers, and 40 per cent of the calves infected. 
The sound animals were separated from those in- 
fected, and special attendants were provided. The 
calves and diseased mothers were separated at birth, 
and the calves fed on boiled milk. A few weeks 
after birth the calves were tested with tuberculin, 
but not one reacted. Each year the whole herd 
was injected twice. The first year, when isolation 
was incomplete, 10 per cent of the presumably 
healthy animals reacted ; the second year only one 
out of 107 was affected, and in the spring of 1894 
only two out of 122. 

It is unfortunate that Dr. J. A. W. Dollar, from 
whose report of the Congress to the Central Veter- 
inarian Medical Society of London these statistics 
are taken, does not tell what became of the group 
of cattle originally isolated, nor of those exposed by 
the later semiannual tests. He remarks, " Bang's 
method seems the easiest and cheapest for stamping 
out tuberculosis ; " but just how much '' stamping 
out " was done does not appear. The facts given 
indicate only that, as actually diseased animals 
were removed from the herd, there was a great 
decrease in the spread of the disease. 

We cannot question Dr. Bang's skill as a veterina- 
rian nor his care as an observer, but there seems to 
be good reason to question his conclusions. He 
advocates in this report the preservation of dis- 
eased animals, but insists that thev shall be isolated 



NATURE AND CERTAINTY OF TUBERCULIN. 73 

from other animals, and not allowed to suckle their 
own calves. He thus admits the extreme danger of 
infection from diseased animals, either by contact 
with other stock or through milk to their calves. 
It will hardly appear, to an American farmer or 
breeder, that it is a practical matter to keep a cow 
who must be isolated, and whose milk is not fit 
even to feed a calf. Certainly tlie milk could 
not be fit for human consumption, and to keep such 
a cow for a calf once a year would be extravagant 
on ordinary farms. It would be much more sensi- 
ble to kill the diseased animal at once. 

The report says that in 1898 Denmark provided 
a large sum for experiments with tuberculin, and 
Professor Bang was intrusted with the work. Up 
to the assembling of the Congress he had inocu- 
lated 8,401 animals on 327 farms. Of these, 3,362 
(or 40 per cent) reacted. The greatest number of 
diseased animals was always found where the traffic 
was most active, isolated farms being often entirely 
free. 

Dr. Hess, of Berne, said that after using tuber- 
culin the animals often showed loss of appetite, 
great depression, and diminished yield of milk. 
Here, again, the report is incomplete, as we are 
not told whether it was the healthy or the diseased 
animals that exliibited the unfavorable symptoms. 
If the latter, tlie known effect of tuberculin in 
accelerating the disease, if present, might account 
for the symptoms. That Dr. Hess was referring to 



74 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

animals that reacted seems probable from his later 
remark, that the worst effects of tuberculin are the 
" production " of acute tuberculosis ; and therefore, 
while he considers tuberculin an excellent diagnos- 
tic in most cases, he warned the Congress " against 
relying on it in either old or widespread tubercu- 
losis, and laid stress on the frequent occurrence of 
acute miliary tuberculosis." 

Professor Nocard referred to experiences in 
France, Saxony, Berlin, and Copenhagen, which 
point to the contraction of the disease in adult life. 
He considered that heredity plays a very insignifi- 
cant part in its spread. He said long and intimate 
contact is necessary for infection ; and that in Paris, 
since the custom has obtained of keeping milch 
cows only one year and then sending them to the 
butcher, the disease has greatly decreased, while 
w^hen they were kept five or six years the disease 
was very widespread. He considered tuberculin the 
best test for the disease, and, in opposition to Dr. 
Hess, said he had seldom seen even a falling off in 
milk after its use. He recommended testing all 
suspected animals with it, but considered the im- 
mediate slaughter of those that react unnecessary, 
if they do not show symptoms by physical examina- 
tion. By merely isolating them, their usefulness 
for work or milking is preserved, or they may be 
prepared for the shambles. He had seen only two 
cases of generalized tuberculosis in two thousand 
cases tested with tuberculin. 



NATURE AND CERTAINTY OF TUBERCULIN. 75 

Professor Ostertag pointed out the great dan- 
ger of allowing animals to feed from a common 
manger, — a method, he said, which especially 
favored the spread of the disease. 

At the conclusion of the discussion. President 
Dammarin summed up the results as follows : 
" The essayists are agreed that tuberculin is a most 
valuable diagnostic agent. The number of failures 
with it are practically unimportant. The greater 
number of those present do not share Dr. Hess's 
views as to the frequent occurrence of acute tuber- 
culosis after inoculation, and therefore consider 
his warning unnecessary." 

Dr. James B. Paige, V. S., who has had charge 
of the herd at the Hatch Experiment Station of 
the Massachusetts Agricultural College since 1890, 
writes of the early attempts to suppress tubercu- 
losis there : '' At the time of the examination of 
the animals by Dr. Law (1890), and for some time 
after, nothing was known in this country of the use 
of tuberculin as a diagnostic agent of this disease ; 
and we had confidently expected up to the date of 
its introduction to be able, by the weeding-out 
process, by the immediate slaughter of suspicious 
animals, by careful selection, breeding, and good 
sanitary surroundings, to eradicate the disease from 
the herd. That in all probability we should never 
have been able to accomplisli this is shown by a 
study of the records of tlie tuberculin tests. These 
tests at the Station extended from October, 1892, 



76 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE, 

to June, 1894, and in all 55 animals were killed, 
of which 14 did not present the characteristic 
reaction of tuberculosis, but were killed as a pre- 
cautionary measure and for observation." 

Dr. Paige summarizes his conclusions from ob- 
servations of this herd as follows : — 

" 1. That it is unsafe to purcliase animals, to add 
to a healthy herd, from a herd in which tubercu- 
losis has existed. 

" 2. That poor sanitary surroundings — especially 
imperfect ventilation and insufficient light — are fa- 
vorable to the rapid spread of tuberculosis among 
cattle. 

" 3. That it is much better to dispose of excre- 
ment outside of stables than in cellars underneath 
them. 

" 4. That mangers and other stable fixtures 
which increase the amount of surface, cracks, and 
corners that cannot be easily cleaned are objection- 
able, from the fact that when the germs of tubercu- 
losis become scattered under such conditions, they 
are not easily destroyed by the use of disinfecting 
fluids. 

" 5. That infected stables bear close relation to 
the propagation of the disease. 

" 6. That even by the use of strong disinfecting 
fluids it is very difficult, if not impossible, to rid an 
old stable of the germs of tuberculosis. 

" 7. That the diagnosis in most cases of this dis- 
ease by physical examination is impossible. 



NATURE AND CERTAINTY OF TUBERCULIN. 77 

" 8. That in tuberculin we have an exceedingly 
delicate and reliable test for tuberculosis. 

" 9. That tuberculin indicates the existence of 
tuberculosis in the lungs and other parts of the body 
when objective symptoms are absent, and when no 
germs can be discovered by miscroscopical exam- 
ination of mucus from the nostrils. 

" 10. That its use is not followed by any ill effects 
of a serious or permanent nature. 

'' 11. That in some instances the injection of 
tuberculin produces a marked rise of the internal 
temperature where no tuberculosis exists. 

" 12. That in some cases, where tubercles are 
present in the body, its injection is not followed 
by a well defined reaction. 

" 13. That the reaction following the use of 
tuberculin bears no relation to the extent or devel- 
opment of the disease. 

" 14. That it is impossible to formulate a rule by 
which we can say that certain variations of tem- 
perature may or may not indicate the presence of 
tubercles. 

" 15. That in tuberculin we have the only means 
by which we can eradicate tuberculosis from among 
our cattle. 

" 16. That our old-style and unsanitary stables, 
thoroughly infected with the germs of tuberculosis, 
make the complete eradication and suppression of 
this disease wellnigh impossible." 

In supi)ort of his conclusion 11, Dr. Paige cites 
three cases in his record of tests. In view of a moro 



78 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

extended observation of the test, it may be said, in 
explanation of these apparent failures, that in case 
one the first rise in temperature was fifteen hours 
after injection, and it did not remain up hardly 
as long as would be desirable to be conclusive. In 
case two, the first rise was fifteen hours after injec- 
tion, and it remained up only at one observation, 
dropping at the next from 106.2 degrees to below 
normal. This, in the light of late experience, would 
entitle the animal to a retest. In case three there 
was a perfect typical reaction. The disease was not 
found on autopsy, but the thoroughness of that may 
fairly be questioned. 

In support of conclusion 12, Dr. Paige quotes one 
case where the reaction which he says was not well 
defined was certainly well defined ; but it was not 
so strong as is usual. Its maximum was 1.2 de- 
grees, which is quite close to the accepted indica- 
tions at the Virginia Experiment Station, elsewhere 
quoted. 

It would not be fair to the public nor to the 
subject to omit, in this connection, a reference to 
the latest experimental phase of tuberculin. In 
the foregoing there is presented substantially the 
known facts in regard to it. What follows is not yet 
demonstrated, but it comes with so much of weight 
and possibility as to give it great interest to all 
who are engaged in the problem of public health 
as affected by tuberculosis. 

As appears elsewhere, Professor Koch abandoned 
tuberculin as a curative agent, when he found that 



NATURE AND CERTAINTY OF TUBERCULIN. 79 

in very many cases it proved to be an accelerator 
of the disease it was intended to control. To him 
it was a failure, but others seized upon the feature 
which condemned it as a curative* and utilized it 
with great success as a diagnostic. It is generally 
understood among scientific students that Professor 
Koch's discovery was prematurely given to the world, 
and its alleged virtue as a curative of consumption 
was proclaimed before he was prepared to declare 
his work as complete. 

Tuberculin was to him a single substance, whose 
ordinary effect, in cases of tubercular disease, was 
to incite fever and hasten the end, but in his ex- 
periments, as well as in those of others who have 
given attention to it, there were individual cases 
where decidedly curative results were seen, or where 
it produced immunity from subsequent infection, 
but they were hardly more than enough to serve as 
the " exceptions that prove the rule." 

Among those who have been at work with tuber- 
culin is Professor Edwin Klebs, who has earned 
the confidence and gratitude of the whole world 
by his discovery and application of '' anti-toxine," 
which is so rapidly coming into general and suc- 
cessful use as a specific against diphtheria. Observ- 
ing the varying and contrary effects of tuberculin 
in different cases, he was led to consider whether it 
was really a homogeneous single substance, or a 
compound whose separate elements might cause 
the varying effects. 



80 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE, 

He pursued the subject in his laboratory, and 
quite recently has given the public the result of his 
Avork. He claims to have resolved tuberculin into 
three separate elements, — toxines, toxalbumens, 
and a germicide, — and to have so isolated the 
germicide, a sozalbumen to which he has given the 
name "anti-phthisin," that he can produce it as a 
commercial article. 

This new substance, Professor Klebs claims, is 
the agent which has produced the curative effects 
occasionally observed from tuberculin, and that 
these effects are due to the fact that in some way 
the '' anti-phthisin " was enabled in these cases to 
exert its normal curative influence without the usual 
complication and control of the other and toxic or 
poisonous elements in tuberculin. Having isolated 
the " anti-phthisin," he was prepared to test his 
theory by the usual methods of inoculation of the 
lower animals, and later by its prescription to the 
human subject. 

The results, as reported by the discoverer, and by 
Dr. Karl Yon Ruck, of Asheville, N. C, who has 
been intrusted with the secret, have been remarka- 
bly successful. The latter reports over 20,000 in- 
jections without observing a single instance where it 
acted detrimentally, or produced undesirable symp- 
toms or discomfort to the human patient. 

The observation of these two gentlemen leads 
them to the conclusion that the failure of Professor 
Koch's lymph was due to the effects of the poison- 



NATURE AND CERTAINTY OF TUBERCULIN. 81 

ous elements in tuberculin, while its occasional suc- 
cesses were due to the agent which they now have 
in complete isolation and control, and which in 
their hands uniformly gives encouraging results as 
a curative agent. 

It is administered by subcutaneous injection, and 
none of the unfavorable effects of tuberculin appear, 
but in all cases where the lesions of tuberculosis 
have not so far advanced as to cause a breaking 
down of the tissues and the consequent interrup- 
tion of the circulation, decidedly curative effects 
have resulted, and a restoration to normal health 
has been secured. 

The record of these experiments, so far as pub- 
lished, is most interesting and encouraging, and 
the success of Professor Klebs's earlier discovery 
— '' anti-toxine " — is, in a way, a factor tending to 
justify a degree of confidence in his later announce- 
ment. The reader needs no reminder, however, 
that the history of medical science is strewn with 
failures of alleged panaceas as promising as this. 
Whatever may be its result, its. success or failure 
cannot affect the acceptance of tuberculin as a 
diagnostic of bovine tuberculosis. That is estab- 
lished, and if the new " anti-phthisin " sliould come 
into general use as a curative agent of the disease 
among cattle, tuberculin would still hold its place 
as a diagnostic preliminary to the administration 
of "anti-plithisiu." 



CHAPTER IX. 

OPERATION AND DELICACY OF THE TEST. 

In cases where tuberculosis is entirely localized on 
the surface of the body, — as in the case of wounds 
upon the hands during autopsy, or in the infrequent 
cases where the disease appears on the surface, — 
treatment with tuberculin may result in cure ; its 
application leading to a more active process of cell 
growth followed by degeneration and death, the 
dead mass sloughing off, and leaving sound tissues 
to heal. Usually, however, there are more deeply 
located colonies of bacilli in connection with the 
surface manifestations ; and to these tuberculin 
can only prove an accelerator of the disease, this 
acceleration being the fact relied upon for its detec- 
tion under the test. 

It should be clearly understood that the system 
of a tuberculous animal is more or less saturated 
with tuberculin. The animal becomes accustomed 
to the presence of poison, just as a man may accus- 
tom himself to alcohol, nicotine, or morphia, so 
that a certain amount is tolerated by the system 
without immediate manifest effects. But if there 
is an addition to the amount to which the animal 




o 



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2 o 



o ^ 
^ 3 

? 

C is 

'"' 0) 



O 

P. 

P- 



OPERATION AND DELICACY OF THE TEST. 83 

has been accustomed, the bacilli are excited to 
unusual activity throughout the system, and the 
characteristic changes in temperature result. 

It is an interesting fact, that in most cases 
where the disease is but recently established, and 
has made so little progress that its presence can- 
not possibly be even suspected by the appearance 
of the animal, this characteristic change in tem- 
perature is most marked. This is accounted for 
by the fact that the newly established colony of 
bacilli is most active in its youthful stage ; and it 
is also true that this activity in the early stages 
renders the animal affected a more prolific source 
of contagion than when the disease is in a later 
stage. It is a strong point in favor of the tuber- 
culin test that it thus searches out, excites, and 
exposes the disease, even in such early stages that 
only the microscope most carefully used can be 
relied on to verify the truth of the detective. 

The usual practice in the use of tuberculin as a 
diagnostic of tuberculosis in cattle is first to deter- 
mine the normal temperature of tlie animal, which 
is done by the use of a clinical thermometer, usu- 
ally inserted in the rectum. Then the tuberculin 
is injected, the dose being varied from the standard 
in proportion to the age and size of tlie animal. 
This injection is usually at niglit, as ciglit or \^'\\ 
hours must elapse before the effect of the injection 
can be noted. 

The next morning the temperature of the animal 



84 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

is taken again, before food and water are given ; 
and the work is repeated every two hours until the 
test is completed. After the first morning observa- 
tion of temperature, food and water are given in only 
moderate quantities, and the animal is kept in the 
stall during the test. 

There is some variation among animals in their 
response to the test ; but the first indication of rise 
in temperature is expected in about ten hours after 
injection ; and it is expected to continue eight or 
ten hours, or until the injected tuberculin begins to 
be eliminated from the body through the excre- 
tions, when it is expected to fall to or below its 
normal stage. 

There are numerous influences constantly or oc- 
casionally present in the animal, which may affect 
the temperature during the test; and these and 
their complication of the test can be understood 
and allowed for only by a skilled observer. It is 
for this reason, coupled with the delicacy of the 
test in itself, that tuberculin is not a safe agent in 
general hands. Mistakes have happened, even in 
the wisest hands, and they would be multiplied 
indefinitely if the use of tuberculin was made 
general. 

The mere elevation of temperature after injec- 
tion is but one element in the process of detecting 
the disease. Otlier causes may come in to induce 
a temporary fever, and these must be eliminated- 
If the animal sliows a normal temperature of 101 



OPERATION AND DELICACY OF THE TEST, 85 

degrees Falir., and ten hours afterward it has risen 
to 104 or above, keeping there for several hours, 
and then perhaps eighteen hours after injection it 
falls to or a little below the normal point, the 
inference of disease is very strong. If, however, 
the temperature should continue high after the 
period when the tuberculin should be eliminated 
from the body, — or if, instead of a single curve of 
rise and fall, there should occur a rise and fall fol- 
lowed by a second rise and fall during the time the 
tuberculin remains in the body, — then the infer- 
ence would be but a doubtful one, and skilful ob- 
servation of the other conditions would be required. 
As a rule, however, the best practice in this class 
of cases is to give the animal a second test after a 
few days' interval. 

The difference between the normal reaction in 
an animal after injection where the disease is pres- 
ent, and the abnormal phenomena resulting from 
other causes, may be better understood from the 
following temperature charts, which were taken in 
actual practice. 

In Chart No. 1, the temperature line shows a 
typical reaction of tuberculin in a diseased animal, 
and is such in character, varying only in the de- 
gree and continuance of elevation, as is uniformly 
secured in the tests where all the conditions are 
normal, and the work is properly performed. Fre- 
quently the rise is as high as seven degrees ; but 
this is generally seen only when the disease is in 



86 



TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 



its early and most active stage. The chart was 
from an animal far advanced with disease. 

Chart No. 2 differs from No. 1 in that, while 
the rise in temperature — which happened to be 
coincident with the injection of tuberculin — was 



Tl ME 

OF 

DAY 


< 


t^ 


00 


O) 


o 


— 


1 

* 
C\J 


q: 


• 

CVJ 


CO 


•> 

V 

^ 


• 






00 




liJ 

q: 

D 
h 
< 
DC 
U 
0. 

LI 

h 


107° 
106° 
105° 
104° 
103° 
102° 
101° 
I00» 
99° 

98° 

97» 




















































































































































. — 






















,^- 




_, 


_^ 


-, 














■^ 


y 


y^ 


.... 


.... 


— - 


.... 


\ 


^ 


\ 


\ 


---• 


.... 


- 


























\ 


— 



































































Chart No. 1. 



much more marked, and which a hasty observer 
might readily declare was decisive of disease, it 
did not recede toward or to the normal point when 
the tuberculin had been excreted from the body. 
The animal from which the chart was taken was 
killed, but the post-mortem disclosed no indications 
of disease. 

Chart No. 3 is somewhat unusual, but it has 



OPERATION AND DELICACY OF THE TEST 87 

occurred, and is noted in several reports. It is 
known as " the double curve," and in the present 
state of positive knowledge of chart reading it is 
considered a puzzle. Some animals furnishing such 
a chart have been found diseased on post-mortem ; 



Tl ME 

OF 

DAY 


< 
to 


»• 

f^ 


00 


O) 


■■.■■■ 

o 


•• 


OJ 




• 


• 


•« 
'^ 


ID 


CD 




00 




q: 

D 
h 
< 

o: 
bJ 

Q. 

u 

h 


107° 

106° 

105° 

104° 

103° 

102° 

101° 

100° 

99° 

98° 

97° 







.... 


— 


#b 


.... 





- 





.... 




---• 


.... 


.... 


-— 


- 


— . 


_A 


/ 


/ 


r 


— - 


.... 


— 


— - 




..,- 


.... 




.... 


.... 






/ 






























/ 
































































.... 


.... 


.... 


.... 


... 


.... 


.... 


-— 


.... 


.... 


-.1 




.... 


— 


— 


- 



































Chart No. 2. 



while others, with a chart apparently identical in 
character, have not disclosed the disease. 

At present, in Massachusetts practice, animals 
exhibiting Charts 2 and 3 are held for retest, their 
peculiar character indicating some unknown cause 
of febrile condition other than the sought for dis- 
ease. They are under careful observation, and it is 
hoped that increasing experience will soon enable 
observers fully to comprehend their import. 



88 



TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 



Dr. E. P. Niles, veterinarian of the Virginia 
Experiment Station, reports four cases where the 
reaction was but one or two degrees, and all were 
proved diseased. He says : '' From our own ex- 
perience we are led to believe that any elevation 



Tl ME 

OF 

DAY 


< 
to 


h« 


CO 


O) 


•• 

o 


0- 
• 


* 

OJ 


a: 


CVJ 


r 

CO 




• 


CD 


1^ 


•> 
00 


liJ 

q: 

D 
h 
< 

u 

Q. 

y 

h 


107° 

106° 

105° 

104° 

103° 

102° 

101° 

\W 

99° 

98° 

ST 












































































































•^ 






















A 








A 


^ 


—- 


-^ 


^■" 





.._ 


y 


y 


Z. 


^ 


N 


v^ 


/. 


— 


.._ 


.... 


— , 




























— . 


— - 


.... 


.... 


.... 




.... 


.... 


.... 


-— 


— • 


.... 


.... 


.... 


.... 



Chart No. 3. 



of temperature that continues over two or more 
readings above the highest normal variation dur- 
ing a period of twelve hours before injection is 
diagnostic of tuberculosis ; and if we expect com- 
pletely to eradicate the disease from our herds, we 
must take this as a standard. It would be much 
more profitable occasionally to destroy a healthy 
animal than to let one that is diseased escape, even 



OPERATION AND DELICACY OF THE TEST. 89 

though we expect to repeat the test in six months' 
time." 

Dr. Niles is also of opinion that the animal sys- 
tem acquires a certain tolerance to the action of 
tuberculin after the first injection, thereby making 
a second test unreliable without the intervention of 
several months. 

Drs. Osgood and Lyman, of the Massachusetts 
Cattle Commission, do not usually accept so slight 
reactions as are indicated by Dr. Niles, unless quite 
suspicious physical indications are present. They 
are also of opinion tliat tuberculin does not create 
a tolerance of itself when injected, so that a second 
injection without the long delay is uncertain. They 
advise, however, in cows where the period of heat 
may have complicated the test, that twenty-one days 
elapse before re-injection, as this avoids contact with 
the next period of heat. The experience of these 
two gentlemen, much greater than that of any oth- 
ers in this country, justifies great confidence in their 
suggestions concerning the details of the test. 

It should be stated in this connection, that, where 
the characteristic reaction of tuberculin has pro- 
nounced the disease present, the failure to detect it 
in an ordinary post-mortem does not settle the 
question against the accuracy of the tuberculin test. 
It is the common experience of those of the widest 
opportunity for observation, that the disease is often 
found on post-mortem only in a trivial lesion, in some 
out-of-the-way corner of the body, where it might 



90 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

readily escape such scrutiny as is possible under the 
usual conditions in practical work. And even when 
these slight lesions are not discovered, and reference 
is had to the microscope without success, still tuber- 
culin is not convicted of error. It has been so often 
seen to reveal the disease where but the slightest 
visual traces of it could be discovered, that where 
no traces are discovered science can only say it was 
not found. Xo skilful and wise operator would say 
more until the most exhaustive examination, visual 
and microscopic, had furnished a scientific basis for 
such a declaration ; and such an examination is a 
practical impossibility. 

A bulletin from the Connecticut Commissioners 
on Diseases of Domestic Animals, 189-4, reports 
twenty-nine tests, in which the normal temperatures 
were determined by two observations, two hours 
before and two hours after feeding. The result 
shows that in twenty-three animals there was a rise 
of 0.93 of a degree after feeding, the maximum rise 
being 1.7 degrees, while six of the animals showed a 
decrease in temperature averaging 0.51 of a degree. 
The maximum was one degree. 

The animals were injected over night, and at six 
o'clock the next morning twenty showed an average 
fall in temperature of 0.86 of a degree, the maxi- 
mum beino; 2.5 deorrees. Seven showed a rise of an 
average of 1.01 degrees, the maximum being 3.6 
degrees. Two showed the same temperature in the 
morning as the average of the night before. The 



OPERATION AND DELICACY OF THE TEST. 91 



eccentricity of these figures, taken by careful ob- 
servers, confirms what has been said before in 
regard to the danger of intrusting tuberculin to 
unskilled hands. Wide general knowledge of ve- 
terinary science is needed to balance the vary- 
ing physical indications, and to read correctly the 
confusing temperature records. 

At a recent examination of a herd in Meriden, 
Conn., where two animals had been found suspicious 
by physical examination, nine were exposed by 
tuberculin ; and all, an observer declared, were 
" as apparently healthy animals as man ever wit- 
nessed led out to slaughter." All were found 
markedly diseased. Their reactions were as fol- 
lows : — 





Normal. . Highest Reaction. 




o 


o 


No. 1 


101.5 .... 


. 107.2 


No. 2 ... . 


101.3 .... 


104.1 


No. 3 ... . 


. 101.9 .... 


106.8 


No. 4 ... . 


102.2 


106.0 


No. 5 


103.0 .... 


107.6 


No. 6 ... . 


. 102.1 


106.5 


No, 7 ... . 


. 102.1 .... 


105.0 


No. 8 ... . 


. 102.0 .... 


. 107.0 


No. 9 ... . 


. 102.8 .... 


. 107.0 


11 • J j_ 1 "1. _ - 


_ _ • J 1 • 


, 



This test has been in use in this country since 
1891, the first experiments being by Professor 
Zuill, of the veterinary department of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania. The experiment stations or 
other agencies of Canada, Maine, Vermont, New 
York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, 



92 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Minnesota 
have used it with satisfactory and conclusive results. 

The result of the use of tuberculin has been so 
monotonously successful that as long ago as June, 
1892, a scientific journal in Berlin announced : " We 
shall now stop publishing reports on tuberculin in 
the Berlin Veterinary Weekly unless they contain 
some new facts and figures. Since the publication 
of the reports of the extensive experiments of the 
Royal Health Office, we may regard the question of 
the value of tuberculin in the diagnosis of tubercu- 
losis in cattle as settled. The proof which has 
been presented to our readers is more than suffi- 
cient. The results are absolute and gratifying, 
and show that tuberculin is a reliable agent for 
determining the presence of tuberculosis in cattle." 

Professor Hills and Dr. Ricli say of the tuber- 
culin test : '' There have been mistakes made by its 
use by incompetent persons, and it has occasionally 
failed in careful hands. Experience, however, has 
brought a greater measure of success ; unfavorable 
reports are now rare, and many who considered 
tuberculin unreliable are acknowledging that the 
fault was their own. But notwithstanding its occa- 
sional and admitted failures, it has proved infinitely 
more reliable than any other means of diagnosis 
now in use." 

In most of the literature emanating from various 
agricultural bureaus and other places where the 
tuberculin test has been studied, it is insisted that 



OPERATION AND DELICACY OF THE TEST. 93 

the normal temperature of an animal cannot be de- 
termined by a single taking with sufficient accuracy 
to serve as a safe basis from which to compute the 
reaction after injection. This theory is based upon 
the fact that there are very considerable variations in 
individual temperature, under normal conditions, at 
various times during the day; and that these vari- 
ations, unless determined in each individual case 
by numerous observations, may complicate and ren- 
der valueless the record of temperature under the 
test. 

Drs. Osgood and Lyman, of the Massachusetts 
Cattle Commission, recognizing in their extended 
experience the increased trouble and expense of 
these prolonged observations, have worl^ed out a 
system by which they are able to avoid them. They 
made a record of some ten thousand temperatures 
taken on about five hundred animals, recording also 
their careful observation of attendant physical con- 
ditions. These observations have enabled them to 
secure a basis by which to determine the probable 
variations in normal temperature which can be 
applied in individual cases, so that a single tem- 
perature taken before injection is generally suffi- 
cient. Wherever a notably abnormal temperature 
is indicated, the test is withheld until the conditions 
are favorable. This single normal temperature, 
coupled with the observation and record of tempo- 
rary physical conditions in each case, lias proved 
so efficient in the thousands of cases that have 



94 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

passed through their hands without any material 
error justly chargeable to tuberculin, that they now 
consider the repeated observations unnecessary to 
determine the normal temperature. 

Professor Mackenzie, in 1892, said of tuberculin : 
"• It may now be considered as past the experimental 
stage ; and if tuberculin never becomes a success as 
a remedy, it certainly will be used to a very large 
extent as a diagnostic re-agent in animals." And, 
after stating the early results of its use, — results 
which have been almost infinitely reinforced by later 
observations, — he said: "I think I have made it 
clear that we have in tuberculin a re-agent which 
is of immense value in the diagnosis of the disease, 
especially as it is just in those cases in which other 
clinical evidence is wanting that it is most certain ; 
for the results have all shown that in animals with 
only few tubercular lesions, so few that the ordinary 
health is in no way affected, the reaction is most 
marked." 

He also remarks : " It is quite useless to use the 
re-agent if we are not going to destroy the animals 
that give the reaction." 

Dr. Bryce, in a recent report on tuberculosis, 
says of tuberculin, that it is '' so delicate and yet so 
accurate that the most unbelieving among veterina- 
rians are to-day confessing to its marvellous diag- 
nostic value and significance." 

Professor Leonard Pearson writes : " In my ex- 
perience of more than five hundred cases, of which 



OPERATION AND DELICACY OF THE TEST. 95 

about one hundred have been slaughtered, I can 
count but one error in diagnosis, — an old cow, 
badly diseased, which did not react after a small 
dose. All of the other results have been most 
satisfactory. Every cow that gave a reaction and 
was killed was shown to have tuberculosis." 

Nearly all the experience with tuberculin reported 
thus far has been of its use upon cattle in their nor- 
mal conditions, in their borne stables, and with but 
a minimum of irritation and excitement. It is well 
known that milch cattle are nervous, highly organ- 
ized animals ; and it is one of the strongest proofs 
of the harmlessness of tuberculin that in all these 
stable tests reported there is no authentic report of 
injury, or of failure of tuberculin to detect the dis- 
ease if present, when it was used by intelligent and 
discreet veterinarians. 

The Massachusetts Commission has, however, 
at the cattle markets at Brighton and Watertown, 
been brought into contact with far different and 
more difficult conditions. Most of the cows offered 
in the market are in full milk ; they come in cars, 
and for a day or two have been milked, fed, and 
watered irregularly ; they have been made nervous 
by being roughly driven among unaccustomed sur- 
roundings, and after they reach the market are 
encompassed by a crowd of buyers. There is no 
time for the animals to rest, and to acquire their 
normal condition of quiet, before tliey are injected ; 
because the test occupies from twenty to twenty-four 



96 TUBERCULOSIS AMOSG CATTLE. 

hours, during which time impatient drovers, owners, 
and buyers are clamoring for the completion of the 
work, so that their business may be accomplished. 

It is under these conditions that this market 
inspection has been carried on ; and while some 
mistakes have been made because of inexperience, 
haste, mischievous interference, and the generally 
unfavorable conditions attending the experiment, 
the post-mortems have shown but comparatively few 
failures. The writer has been personally conversant 
with every step of this work, and is quite aware of 
the sweeping charges that have been brought against 
it by interested and prejudiced parties ; but he is 
confident that, while errors and mistakes are admit- 
ted, they are chargeable not to the failures of tuber- 
culin, but to the conditions under which the tests 
were made. As these conditions have become better 
imderstood, and some of them have been made sub- 
ject to control, the proportion of errors has greatly 
decreased. The only wonder, to one familiar with 
the delicacv of the test and with the surroundinsr 
conditions at these markets, is that errors are not 
more numerous. The record of the work at these 
markets, up to the latest date to which the figures 
could be inserted here, is as follows. 

The work began on November 21, 1894, and the 
record for 14 weeks, to March 1, 1895, shows 4,226 
animals tested, and 250 condemned. Of these, 14.8 
per cent failed to show evidences of the disease at 
the post-mortems. Counting all these as failures, 



OPERATION AND DELICACY OF THE TEST. 97 

the record shows success in 85.2 per cent of the 
condemned cases. But it should be remembered 
that the failure to find the disease with the hasty 
and imperfect methods of autopsy compelled by the 
conditions, and the element of mischief, whose pro- 
portions are not yet determined, are so important 
factors in the result that a considerable discount 
fj'ora the above estimate of failures must be allowed. 

Another branch of the work of the Massachusetts 
Cattle Commission, but just begun, is the systematic 
inspection with tuberculin of all the cattle upon the 
farms. The counties of Nantucket and Dukes have 
been completed. A total of 1,837 animals have been 
tested in these two counties, with but seven con- 
demned, all of which proved diseased on post-mortem. 
In addition to the seven condemned on the two 
islands, seven other animals were bought and killed 
because of physical indications which induced the 
agents of the board to withhold the brand of sound- 
ness. None of these last, however, proved to be 
tuberculous. 

The extremely small percentage of disease in 
these counties is credited to the fact that the stock 
is almost entirely home-raised, is kept largely out 
of doors under favorable sanitary conditions, and is 
not forced to undue milk production, — conditions 
which are everywhere recognized as unfavorable to 
the development of this or any other germ disease. 

The third branch of the Massachusetts Commis- 
sion's work is in responding to the calls of local 

7 



98 TUBERCULOSIS AMOXG CATTLE. 

inspectors. These officials make semiannual ex 
ami nations of all cattle in their respective districts, 
and report all suspicious cases to the Commission. 
Agents who are trained veterinarians are then sent 
to test these suspected cases with tuberculin, and 
the temperature charts are sent to the Commission 
for decision. The basis of all this work being ani- 
mals that are suspected on physical examination, 
it would be unjust to use it as a basis for any esti- 
mate of the prevalence of the disease. As showing 
the accuracy of tuberculin under normal conditions, 
however, it is of interest. 

Up to March 1, 1S95. the number of animals thus 
tested has been 4,437. Of these 1,367 were indicated 
as diseased, and on post-mortem nearly all disclosed 
lesions of tuberculosis. When these figures were 
compiled the returns of the agents were not all in, 
so that the actual number of failures to find the dis- 
ease on autopsy could not be given, but such cases 
have been very infrequent, — doubtless not over a 
a quarter of one per cent. It is worthy of note, as 
indicating the uncertainty of physical examination, 
that in these cases only a little over 30 per cent of 
those reported suspicious proved to be diseased. 

Bulletin Xo. 7 of the Bureau of Animal Industry 
calls attention to the delicacy of observation re- 
quired correctly to read the temperature charts, 
saying : "* Before we can determine in what meas- 
ure the result of tuberculin injections correctly in- 
dicated the presence or absence of a tuberculous 



OPERATION AND DELICACY OF THE TEST, 99 

affection, we must form a more or less definite idea 
of what is in truth to be called a reaction. On this 
point little agreement apparently exists between dif- 
ferent observers, which is not an extraordinary fact 
when we consider the marked normal variations in 
the temperature of milk cattle, the readiness with 
which the temperature of many animals is influenced 
by slight and frequently unrecognizable causes, the 
dissimilar conditions under which different herds 
live, the lack of constancy in the quantity of tuber- 
culin injected, and the possible variations in the 
strength, purity, and state of preservation of the tu- 
berculin used. The elevation in temperature neces- 
sary to constitute a reaction has variously been given 
from 0.9 to 1.8 degrees Fahr. But it is not suffi- 
cient to consider merely the number of degrees the 
temperature after the injection rises above the tem- 
perature before the injection. The height reached 
by the temperature and the duration of tlie eleva- 
tion certainly cannot be disregarded. In estimating 
the reliability of the results from tuberculin injec- 
tions where the temperature after the injection is 
low, Eber maintains that a rise of not less than 0.9 
degree Fahr. must occur, and be continuous during 
many hours, before the presence of fever can be 
conclusively affirmed. A low temperature after the 
injection is specified as 103.1. degrees Fahr. This 
is a rule which we believe it is necessary to observe." 
The experience in Massacluisetts, wliicli is far 
more extended than elsewhere up to the present 



100 



TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 



time, justifies a demand for a more marked rise in 
temperature than is above indicated ; and while the 
moderate rise is looked upon as suspicious, it would 
hardly be accepted as a conclusive indication, un- 
less physical symptoms appeared in corroboration. 
A rise of 1.5 or of 2 degrees Fahr. with physical 
indications might be accepted ; but it would also be 
expected that the post-mortem would reveal a very 
advanced and generalized case of disease. A con- 
siderably higher rise should be looked for in a case 
where the disease was incipient, or but recently 
established. 

The report of the Bureau of Animal Industry 
gives a table of results of the injection of sixty- 
three animals, of which seventeen gave reactions of 
2.5 degrees Fahr. or less. On post-mortem it ap- 
peared that six of the seventeen were not diseased. 
The details of these cases were as follows : — 



Highest 
Reaction. 


1 degree 


2.3 


a 


2.4 


u 


2.2 


a 


1.6 


i(. 


1.2 


u 


0.5 


a 


1.8 


u 


2.2 


u 


0.5 


li 


1.6 


a 


2.4 


u 



Length of 
Reaction. 


1 hour 


11 


u 


13 


ti 


17 


a 


7 


a 


7 


a 


6 


a 


17 


a 


13 


a 


8 


u 


16 


a 


16 


a 



Result. 
Xot diseased. 
Diseased. 



"Not diseased. 



Diseased. 

a 
n 



Not diseased. 



OPERATION AND DELICACY OF THE TEST. 101 



1.2 degrees . 




71 


lOU 


2.5 " . . 




. 13 


a 


2.0 " . 




. 11 


a 


0.2 " . 


. 


. 3 


t( 


2.0 " . 




. 13 


u 



Not diseased. 
Diseased. 

Xot diseased. 
Diseased. 



When, in addition to the above general consider- 
ations, it is taken into account that only a moderate 
supply of food, water, or exercise may result in a 
rise in temperature in a cow of from 1 to 1.5 de- 
grees Fahr. ; that her condition as to fatness has 
its influence on temperature variations ; and that 
temporary physical conditions (heat, calving pe- 
riod, etc.) may furnish other complications, — it 
will be readily seen that the work of correctly in- 
terpreting the temperature chart is not an indiffer- 
ent affair. To include and properly balance all 
these elements, and to draw therefrom an accurate 
deduction, demands far more knowledge and astute- 
ness than is possessed by the ordinary farmer. Such 
work should always be confided to a veterinary 
expert. 

In a recent discussion upon this subject Dr. Leon- 
ard Pearson said: "I have examined about five 
hundred cases, and have killed a few over one hun- 
dred animals that reacted ; and all those animals that 
have reacted showed tuberculosis on post-mortem 
examination. I should say, however, that some of 
them showed it but very slightly ; and in some of 
them it required a very careful examination to dis- 
cover the tuberculosis. In one of them in particular 



102 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

(I do not know that there was more than one) I 
could find no tuberculosis at all, nothing but an 
inflammation of the mesenteric glands of certain 
small portions of the intestines, and a little pleurisy. 
The mesenteric glands were examined (by micro- 
scope), and the tests showed that even in this case 
the animal was tuberculous. In fact, in the sections 
of the mesenteric gland tuberculosis bacilli were ex- 
ceedingly numerous. There were great numbers of 
them, and for that reason some of them were kept 
for class demonstration as showing a large number 
of tubercles in a small area. I have heard of a few 
cases that reacted, and under post-mortem examina- 
tion tubercles were not found. ... I have read of 
a number of other cases that did not react when 
tested with tuberculin ; and I have heard of a few 
cases in the western part of New York State in 
which the animals did not react, but were killed, 
and afterward found to have tuberculosis. But in 
all these animals the disease was quite advanced, 
and I think that is the reason. You know tuber- 
culin is the product of the growth of tuberculosis 
bacilli; and it is fair to suppose that in general 
tuberculosis the system is so thoroughly saturated 
with it that the small amount of tuberculin injected 
makes no difference. But a few of these cases were 
so well marked that they could have been recognized 
even before injecting tuberculin ; so the tuber- 
culin test in these cases was unnecessary. My 
own experience has been most gratifying, and I am 



OPERATION AND DELICACY OF THE TEST. 103 

using a good deal of it now, and expect to con- 
tinue it." 

Dr. Anderson Crowforth, V. S., related the fol- 
lowing experience before the Ontario Veterinary 
Medical Association at Toronto, December, 1894: 
'^ While examining a herd of domestic cows by the 
ordinary means, — that is, without the aid of the 
tuberculin test, — I discovered one cow that I sus- 
pected, and ordered her to be treated with tuber- 
culin. Through a mistake of the herdsman that 
was not discovered till after the examination by the 
tuberculin test, he submitted the wrong animal. 
She was a cow six years old, apparently in good 
health, and did not show the slightest trace of 
tuberculosis by ordinary means ; and when tested 
by Koch's lymph she proved to be diseased, her 
temperature rising to 108 degrees Fahr. fifteen 
hours after the injection. The post-mortem showed 
tubercles in most of the lymphatic glands, lungs, 
kidneys, adipose tissue, and, lastly, the liver, — 
this last containing a tubercle, which I have pre- 
served in my office, weighing several pounds. This 
led to a test of the rest of the herd with tuberculin, 
and I discovered that 50 per cent were affected. 
In another herd of 37, reaction after tuberculin 
occurred in 31, while 6 gave no reaction. When 
killed, the 6 proved sound, and the 31, without 
exception, tuberculous." 



CHAPTER X. 

OBJECTIONS TO THE TEST ANSWERED. 

Aside from the eccentricities of temperature here- 
tofore alluded to, — which may result from other 
diseases, from the animal being in heat or near to 
calving, from lack of discretion in the allowance of 
food or water during the test, or from active exertion 
or unusual excitement, all of which are within the 
observation of the expert, and should be considered 
in his conclusions, — there are in the public mind 
certain ^ other features which are urged against 
tuberculin as a reliable test of the presence of dis- 
ease. Most of these are fallacious, but they deserve 
explanation in this connection. 

It is correctly alleged that the expected variation 
in temperature fails to appear in some cases where the 
presence of the disease is demonstrated by autopsy. 
These cases are rare, and are usually of the extreme 
type where the system is so thoroughly permeated 
by tuberculin that the small amount added by the 
injection has no appreciable effect. In such cases 
the disease is usually apparent on a physical exam- 
ination. They do not, however, appear with suffi- 
cient frequency to justify their quotation against 



OBJECTIONS TO THE TEST ANSWERED. 105 

the general efficacy of the test. So rare are they, 
indeed, that some veterinarians of extended experi- 
ence express doubt of their genuineness. 

It is alleged that the test causes reactions or rise 
in temperature in slight cases where tlie animals 
might live and be profitable for years. This is also 
true, and it would be a valid objection if the prime 
object were to perpetuate the disease and the offer- 
ing for sale of the diseased products. But if the 
desire is to detect and eradicate the disease, the 
fact that this agent exposes it in its otherwise secret 
and most dangerous stages is one of its most cred- 
itable features. 

That this reaction is thus caused by tuberculin is 
shown by an early German experiment when thirty- 
one animals reacted out of a herd of thirtv-seven. 
All were killed, and the six that did not react were 
found healthy, while the entire thirty-one were found 
diseased. Only one of these showed general disease, 
and was sold as cheap meat, while all the others 
were accepted as fit for food. This illustration 
suggests that the German standard of fitness for 
food is not so high as in this country ; and it should 
be said also that the incident was early in the his- 
tory of tuberculin, and that the peril of using any 
part of an infected carcass is much better under- 
stood now than heretofore. 

Dr. Law, in discussing this phase of the subject, 
says : ''While a cow with one or two tubercles only 
in the lymphatic glands may not be liable to transmit 



106 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

the disease to others, yet whenever an extension 
takes place, the germs being carried by the blood, 
and therefore throughout the whole system, there 
must always be danger of their escape from the 
natural surfaces to infect other animals. And, let it 
be borne in mind, this diffusion through the blood 
takes place before its occurrence is revealed by the 
formation of tubercles in new situations. So long, 
therefore, as a single victim of even slight tubercu- 
losis is left in a herd, it can only be looked upon 
as an invitation to a renewed extension of the 
disease. It also may become at any moment a 
source of infection for man through the use of 
meat or milk. It is only in degree that the con- 
tagion of tubercnlosis differs as to its sanitary 
aspect from that of any one of the more contagious 
diseases, and in all alike. So soon as we attach 
more importance to the preservation of an infected 
animal that may possibly recover than we do to the 
radical extinction of the disease, we undermine and 
destroy the effectiveness of our sanitary work. . . . 
Is the remorseless scourge of tuberculosis to be 
perpetuated, not only in herds, but in our homes 
as well, to save for a few months or years some 
tuberculous cows? No country has ever dealt 
succcessfuUy with any of these animal plagues on 
the basis of preserving the mild cases for recovery. 
Always and everywhere it has been by the radical 
and thorough extinction of the disease germ wher- 
ever found that success has been achieved. While 



OBJECTIONS TO THE TEST ANSWERED. 107 

this cannot be done for man, it must be done for our 
flocks and herds if we would ever cut off this prolific 
animal source of tuberculosis from the human race. 
Even as regards the herds themselves, the stock 
owner who would consult his own future interests 
would at any cost exclude from his farms and fields 
every possible source of future tuberculosis." 

It is admitted by nearly all authorities that the use 
of the tuberculin test tends to aggravate tuberculosis 
wherever it is present ; but this is no objection to 
its use, if the purpose is to destroy the disease 
wherever found. If the early German system, which 
preserved the animals that were but slightly affected, 
is adopted, then, of course tuberculin should not be 
used. It is useful only where radical measures are 
determined on. Dr. Law's summary of the situa- 
tion is : " The tuberculin test aggravates existing 
tuberculosis, and is therefore unwarrantable for use 
on man, or on cattle that are to be kept alive. It is, 
however, the only known means of detecting many 
occult cases of tuberculosis, and is therefore indis- 
pensable in any systematic effort to stamp out the 
disease by the purchase and slaughter of every 
tuberculous animal." 

It is sometimes urged that the use of tuberculin 
may produce the disease in healthy animals ; but, as 
has been shown in the description of the process of 
manufacture, this result is practically impossible. 

Dr. George II. Bailey, Maine State Veterinary 
Surgeon, writes, under date of November 15, 1894 : 



108 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

" Experiments thus far conducted seem to establish 
the fact that tuberculin injected into well cattle 
causes no reaction, and no injurious effects ; while 
if diseased in the slightest degree, the exposure is 
certain, and the autopsies almost invariably confirm 
the diagnosis. There may be some rare exceptions 
to as broad a statement as the above ; but such varia- 
tions can all be explained by the phj^sical condition 
of the animal at the time the test is made, especially 
if submitted to incompetent persons. Or the animal 
may be so thoroughly diseased that its system is al- 
ready saturated with the natural tuberculin, so that 
the slight addition has no effect. Usually such cases 
may be detected without recourse to tuberculin, or 
in spite of its lack of reaction." 

Dr. M. Stalker writes : " The theory that tuber- 
culin prepared as it is can produce tuberculosis, is 
too absurd for discussion. Such a claim does not 
possess the dignity of respectable nonsense." 

Elaborate experiments by the United States Bu- 
reau of Animal Industry, to discover whether the 
injection of tuberculin produces results other than 
a rise in temperature, of so characteristic a nature 
as to furnish a basis for conclusions indicative of 
the condition of the animal, have failed to disclose 
any such results. 

Professor Pearson, after describing experiments 
showing a rapid advance in the disease subsequent 
to injection with a large dose of tuberculm, quite 
parallel with the experience of Professor Koch 



OBJECTIONS TO THE TEST ANSWERED. 109 

with the human subject, declares : " The normal 
dose, instead of doing harm, may produce good 
effects ; and I have several cows under observation 
that gave decided reactions when first tested, clearly 
indicating the presence of tubercles ; but after re- 
ceiving three or four injections of tuberculin, the 
reactions ceased, the general condition of the ani- 
mals improved, and at present it is impossible to 
elicit evidence of tuberculosis, either by physical 
examination or the tuberculin test." 

This is the first and only testimony found, after an 
exhaustive examination of the literature of the sub- 
ject, indicating a substantial curative result. The 
observations indicate this ; but they may perhaps 
be quoted in support of a claim that repeated injec- 
tions of tuberculin produce an immunity to its fur- 
ther effects, — a claim, however, which quite careful 
and extended experiments by Drs. Osgood and 
Lyman tend to disprove. 

An interesting detail in the successful use of 
tuberculin is suggested in a paper by F. L. Russell, 
V. S., Professor of Veterinary Science in the Maine 
State Agricultural College, in a paper published in 
the "- Journal of Comparative Medicine and Veter- 
inary Archives," Philadelphia, December, 1894. He 
presents a somewhat extensive comparison of the 
effects of large and small doses of tuberculin, from 
which he concludes that small doses are entirely 
effective. He reports complete success, confirmed 
by autopsies, with doses of from 0.05 to 0.015 cubic 



110 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE, 

centimeters. The usually accepted average dose 
has been 3 cubic centimeters. 

It would not be just to the public, nor to those 
who are working or who propose to work with 
tuberculin, if allusion were not here made to the 
widely quoted unfavorable results of its use by the 
Rhode Island State Board of Agriculture. It is 
freely stated that tuberculin has failed in that State 
in 25 per cent of the cases where it has been tried. 

It appears, however, from the reports of the So- 
ciety's officials, that this statement rests upon a 
single experiment, where thirty-two animals' were 
pronounced diseased by a tuberculin test, and eight 
of them failed to disclose the disease at the autopsy. 
The only comment necessary in this connection is, 
that, in view of the mass of testimony in support of 
tuberculin as an accurate test under normal and 
controllable conditions, it is quite as safe to refer 
the failure to a lack of thoroughness in the autopsy, 
or to lack of experience in the operators, as to ac- 
cept the reported facts as conclusive against the 
value of tuberculin. It has been carelessly stated 
that Professor Law was responsible for the work 
and for the report ; but he emphatically denies the 
story, and, as elsewhere appears, expresses the 
strongest confidence in tuberculin as a diagnostic 
of bovine tuberculosis, and advises its general use 
by properly educated agents. 



CHAPTER XL 

THE TRANSMISSION OF THE DISEASE. 

The present degree of knowledge of the infectious 
character of the Bacillus tuherrulosis has been 
reached through a long series of carefully con- 
ducted experiments by leading scientists in all 
parts of the world. Two processes have been 
used, — the feeding to animals of food known to 
be infected, and the injection into their systems of 
tuberculous matter obtained from other living ani- 
mals or from human beings. 

There is one feature incident to the experiment 
of the feeding of tuberculous matter to animals 
which tends to prevent uniform results. In 322 
European experiments of this character, 13 per 
cent resulted in the transmission of the disease. 
Dr. Law accounts for the small per cent of favor- 
able results in these tests by citing the varying 
susceptibility to infection in the several animals 
subjected to the test, and the varying degree of 
infection in the material used for feedinGr. 

The condition of the digestive organs of an 
animal at the time such an experiment is tried 
is also an important factor. The bacillus thrives 



112 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE, 

in an alkaline or neutral medium, and is weakened 
or destroyed by acids. If, therefore, infected mate- 
rial enters a stomach where the gastric juices are 
abundant and sharp, and where the digestive 
processes are active, the bacilli are less likely to 
survive and set up fresh infection than in a stom- 
ach where the juices are weak and the digestive 
processes are partially suspended. In the latter 
case their chances of passing on to the mesenteric 
glands are much more favorable. So, also, if there 
happens to be any abrasion of the mucous mem- 
brane in the mouth or throat, the germ may find 
lodgment and enter into the system by absorp- 
tion ; or if it happens to pass from the mouth to 
the lungs, it will find there a favorable spot for 
colonization. 

It is also proved by experiments that the bacillus 
varies in energy as it is derived from one animal 
or another. Thus the germ from an ox is almost 
certain to infect a guinea-pig by inoculation, while 
its vigor is so reduced by passing its progeny 
through several generations of birds that the pig 
cannot afterward be infected by it. But if the 
germ from the last bird is inoculated in the guinea- 
pig it soon regains its normal vigor. The same 
variation in potency appears in germs taken from 
different cattle, all apparently equally diseased. 

There is also a difference in potency in the mate- 
rial fed, the diseased glands and the contents of 
tubercles being much more certain to infect than 



THE TRANSMISSION OF THE DISEASE. 113 

the blood or the muscular tissue of an infected 
animal ; and the peril from milk is found to vary 
greatly, but not always in proportion to the localiza- 
tion of the disease in the udder. 

Dr. E. P. Niles, veterinarian of the Virginia 
Agricultural Experiment Station, in a recent bul- 
letin, says: "Although the lesions may be local, 
the germ may be in all parts of the body, since it is 
circulated by the blood and lymph. It may be 
stated, in this connection, that the germ is neces- 
sarily circulated in the system for some time before 
general tuberculosis takes place. The mere fact, 
then, that the visible lesions are local is no indica- 
tion that the flesh and milk of sucli animals are 
free from the germ. That the milk of tuberculous 
animals is exceedingly dangerous is demonstrated 
by the fact that a large majority of all the deaths 
of bottle-fed infants in the large cities are due to 
some form of tuberculosis." 

Included in Dr. Ernst's report of his experiments 
under direction of the Massachusetts Society for 
Promoting Agriculture, which there has been so 
frequent occasion to quote in this volume, is an 
article by Dr. Henry Jackson, of Boston, on tuber- 
culosis among the Hebrews. From statistics gath- 
ered under his observation in Boston for three 
years, he finds one case of tuberculosis in 30.3 
individuals among Gentiles, and only one case in 
83 among Jews. He also shows by statistics from 
European sources that Jews show a much greater 

8 



114 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

longevity than other races. At first sight a rea- 
son for these differences might be inferred, and 
perhaps justly so far as the European figures are 
concerned, in the exclusion from the Jewish dietary 
of tuberculous meats by the Mosaic code ; but Dr. 
Jackson seems satisfied that there is not a sufficient 
observance of the code in Boston to account for his 
statistics. 

Dr. Jackson discusses in this connection the 
evidence that tuberculous meat is infectious, and 
quotes Nocard, an eminent French authority, that 
meat of tuberculous animals can under certain cir- 
cumstances be dangerous ; but it is very excep- 
tional, and where it occurs it is only to a slight 
extent. He also quotes another French authority, 
M. Butel, who says : "- Tuberculous meat and milk 
are the prominent, and perhaps the chief, cause of 
consumption in man. . . . The danger is formida- 
ble, both on account of the large number of tubercu- 
lous animals which enter into consumption, and the 
frightful number of persons that a single animal can 
infect, and because each person in turn becomes an 
agent in the spread of the disease." 

At the first Congress for the study of tubercu- 
losis at Paris in 1888, where the above opinions 
were expressed, after a prolonged discussion the 
following proposition was adopted with but three 
dissenting votes : '' It is proposed to follow out 
by all means, including indemnity to owners, the 
general application of the principle of seizing 



THE TRANSMISSION OF THE DISEASE, 115 

and destroying all meat of tuberculous animals, 
no matter what the severity of the lesions in the 
animals affected." 

It seems a fair conclusion, from the expressions 
of the latest and best authorities, that there is, as 
compared with milk, but little danger of infec- 
tion with the disease by the use of the muscular 
tissues of beef. The reason is that discoveries of 
the Bacillus tuberculosis in muscular tissue of beef 
are comparatively rare. Its favorite haunt, in the 
bovine race, is the glandular system ; and the only 
practical danger of infection from lean beef is the 
possible presence of the bacilli in the numerous 
small glands that are located among the muscles, 
some of which are not removed before cooking. 
It should be remembered, however, that the condi- 
tions are different in regard to pork. Here the 
bacilli are found to generally pervade the flesh, 
so that the danger of infection is much greater 
from tuberculous pork than from tuberculous 
beef. 

The blood is understood not to be a favorable 
home for the germ ; but it seems certain, from 
experiments, that it may survive the unfavorable 
location long enough to allow lodgment in glands 
or tissues where its development is certain. All 
the facts show that the general diffusion of the 
disease so frequently found to exist must be due to 
its transmission throughout the system by the cir- 
culation of the blood. 



116 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

That the blood can and does infect is shown by 
a recent Massachusetts experiment, where a litter 
of pigs, whose mother was proved to be free from 
the disease, were kept under a slaughter-house 
where they had no food but corn meal and the 
blood-drippings from tuberculous cattle ; and all 
were found to be badly diseased in a few weeks. 

Professor Hills and Dr. Rich state that hundreds 
of experiments have proved that tuberculosis can 
be passed from a diseased to a healthy animal. A 
German author reports 650 successful experiments 
in the transmission of the disease to the lower 
animals. 

At a hearing before the committee on public 
health of the Massachusetts Legislature, Dr. H. C. 
Ernst stated that he " had here something like two 
thousand references to articles written in all lan- 
guages, and in different parts of the world, bearing 
upon and proving the infectious nature of tubercu- 
losis, including only the literature extending over 
about the past seven years." 

At the same hearing Dr. Ernst cited a case of 
localized tuberculosis of the tongue : '' A gentleman 
perfectly well on Thanksgiving day, so far as he 
knew, by eating something infected with tubercu- 
losis, became infected with tuberculosis of the 
tongue. . . . He had a nodule half as large again 
as an English walnut, which was pure tuberculosis, 
as was shown under the microscope in a piece taken 
off with the use of cocaine." 



THE TRANSMISSION OF THE DISEASE, 117 

In a report of the State Live Stock Sanitary Board 
of Maryland it is stated : '' In the opinion of this 
board the suppression of tuberculosis is more im- 
portant than that of contagious pleuro-pneumo- 
nia; for while the latter disease affects animals 
only, the former destroys human life." 

It is a curious suggestion that comes from 
Desmartis, of Bourdeaux, who asserts that he has 
succeeded in the inoculation of plants with tuber- 
cular matter. 

Professor Hills and Dr. Rich suggest three gen- 
eral sources of infection. They are : (1) The dust 
of the dried sputa of consumptives, or other tubercu- 
lous matter, either inhaled or swallowed. (2) Con- 
tact with the tuberculous material of those suffering 
from the disease, thus becoming infected either by 
inhalation, ingestion, or inoculation. For exam- 
ple, in kissing a tuberculous person there might 
be danger of either ingestion or of inoculation with 
tuberculous sputa. (3) The meat and milk of 
tuberculous animals. 

In discussing the first two of these sources they 
say : " The sputa of consumptives containing tu- 
bercle bacilli is freely strewn around our streets 
and buildings. Since the virulence of the germ is 
not lessened by drying, dust is necessarily a com- 
mon and omnipresent source of infection. The 
dust from our streets, stores, dwellings, and places 
of assembly, particularly where tuberculous people 
live and congregate, is infectious. The dried sputa 



118 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE, 

from handkerchiefs, the beds and bedrooms of con- 
sumptives, and the mangers of tuberculous cattle, 
are particularly rich with these germs. This is 
the main source of infection to human beings, one 
to which every one is exposed." 

In answer to the question. Why, if this infectious 
principle is all about us, does not every one die of 
tuberculosis ? the same writers say that many do 
so die, — the death-rate from consumption, which is 
but one form of the disease, being one in seven, 
while from all its forms it is one in four. 

It needs to be remembered, in considering this 
phase of the subject, that while all Nature is pro- 
lific with disease germs, so too all animal life has 
in its normal state a wonderful capacity to resist 
disease. In the human race, air and sunshine, 
proper food, abstinence from all excesses, regular 
employment, an easy mind and a clear conscience 
— in fact, all the elements of life that are usually 
counted as essentials to normal health — are so 
partly because they are all naturally antagonistic 
to disease. The statement is generally true, that 
in the normal constitution and under normal cir- 
cumstances these beneficent influences may be re- 
lied on to counteract and vitiate the aggressions of 
disease. 

Aside from this general and generally apparent 
protection, scientists declare that there are natural 
forces in the body which are antagonistic to germ 
life, and which are the real causes of immunity. 



THE TRANSMISSION OF THE DISEASE, 119 

One theory is that the white blood corpuscles at- 
tack and destroy the germs; and another is that 
the blood serum and tissue juices have a similar 
function. Other scientists dispute these two ideas, 
and claim that a certain standard of vitality, based 
of course on the natural conditions above referred 
to, is sufficient to ward off the attacks of germ dis- 
ease. That a normal gastric juice is fatal to many 
disease germs has been abundantly proved. The 
general principle will undoubtedly stand that a 
good condition of health is a barrier against the 
introduction of germ diseases. 

The British Medical Journal reports the follow- 
ing, which shows the tenacity of life of the bacillus 
under ordinary conditions : " A family of nine 
occupied a house occupied ten years previously by 
two tuberculous patients. A short time after, al- 
tliough the whole family had been in splendid 
health, three among them showed symptoms of 
tuberculosis. They used the same bedroom as the 
former tenants. Dr. Ducor had pieces of wall- 
paper examined, and dust from the ceiling and 
walls was also examined. In both cases the tuber- 
cle bacillus was found. The former occupants had 
been uncleanly in their habits ; the sputa had dried 
on the walls, and the bacillus retained its vitality." 

Dr. Flick, at a recent meeting held to discuss 
this subject, showed by a map of the city of Phila- 
delphia, which located every house in the fifth 
ward in which tuberculosis had occurred in twenty- 



120 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

five years, that the disease chiefly prevailed in a 
series of infected houses which constituted less 
tlian one third of all the houses in the ward, but 
furnished more than one half the deaths. It was 
also observed that a large percentage of all the 
cases of mesenteric tuberculosis in children OC' 
curred in these houses. 

Dr. Kellogg declares that the sputum of tubercu- 
lous cattle and the apartments occupied by such 
cattle are as dangerous a source of infection as 
those occupied by human beings, and even more so. 
He also says : '' It is evident that safety from this 
source of danger to human life can be found only 
in a thorough inspection, not only of all cows and 
cattle furnishing food for human consumption, but 
of all domestic animals which are subject to this 
disease. The astonishing thing is that there should 
be so little interest in relation to this question. 
Tuberculosis is a disease much more rapidly fatal 
in its effects, much more actively contagious, than 
the much dreaded leprosy of India and the South 
Sea Islands, and is almost equally fatal when it 
has obtained a foothold in the human system." 

In considering the ways in which tubercle bacilli 
cause infection. Dr. Salmon places them in the 
order of their frequency as follows : (1) by in- 
halation into the lungs ; (2) ingestion into the 
digestive tract in the milk of tuberculous cows ; 
(3) during coition, when the sexual organs are tu- 
berculous; and (4) from the tuberculous mother to 



J 



THE TRANSMISSION OF THE DISEASE. 121 

the foetus of the infant. He quotes German statis- 
tics showing infection of the lungs 14^ times as 
frequently as of the digestive organs ; but these can 
be hardly accepted in view of the writer's observa- 
tion of several hundred post-mortems in Massachu- 
setts, in which the disease was manifest in a far 
greater proportion in the digestive tract. It is 
noticeable, however, that Dr. Salmon places infec- 
tion by milk as second in the scale of importance. 
He also says in this connection : " The source of 
infection is always some previous case of the dis- 
ease, for the latter can never arise spontaneously. 
Hence, in those stables in which there is frequent 
change of cattle, the introduction of tuberculosis 
by cattle coming from other infected stables is tlie 
most frequent source of infection. Since the bacilli 
when dried can be carried by the air, it is not neces- 
sary that healthy animals should come in direct 
contact with cases of disease to become infected." 
On a later page he says : " The disease of the 
stomach, intestines, and mesenteric glands is very 
probably the result of food infection. Tubercle 
bacilli may have been scattered upon the feed by 
diseased animals. But the most common source of 
infection is the milk of tuberculous cows. Calves 
may become infected in this way. The disease 
may remain latent until the animal becomes older." 
In a general discussion of infectious diseases. Dr. 
Salmon, in 1892, wrote : " The growing facilities 
for intercourse between one section of the country 



122 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

and another, and between different countries, cause 
a wide distribution of the infectious diseases once 
restricted to a definite locality. Not only the ani- 
mals themselves, but the cars, vessels, or other con- 
veyances in which they are carried, may become 
agents for the dissemination of disease. The grow- 
ing tendency to specialization in agriculture, .which 
leads to the maintenance of large herds of cattle, 
sheep, and swine, makes infectious diseases both 
more common and more dangerous. Fresh ani- 
mals are being continually introduced, which may 
be the carriers of disease from other herds ; and 
when this is once introduced into a large herd the 
losses become very high, because it is difficult, if 
not impossible, to check a disease after it has once 
obtained a foothold." 

Henry Mitchell, M. D., Secretary of the New Jer- 
sey State Board of Health, in a recent circular on 
the communicability and prevention of this disease, 
emphasizes the former point as admitted by all who 
are informed on the subject. Of the conditions 
which aid in causing the spread of the disease he 
says: "Dwellings, factories, and shops which are 
located upon damp or undrained sites, or which are 
so constructed or surrounded or managed that pure 
air and sunlight do not enter in abundance, or 
which are supplied with impure water or with 
imperfect drainage, or which are overcrowded or 
filthy, will diminish the strength and vigor of the 
inmates, and assist in rendering them unable to 



THE TRANSMISSION OF THE DISEASE, 123 

repel this disease. Persons whose energy is im- 
paired by indulgence in indigestible or unwhole- 
some foods, and those who are insufficiently fed, or 
who choose foods which do not contain all of the 
necessary elements of nutrition, and those who 
yield to habits of intemperance in alcoholic drinks, 
or to any dissipation, become liable to contract 
tuberculosis." 

The New York State Commission on tuberculosis 
in cattle declare : " The investigations of this Com- 
mission have shown that tuberculosis is under cer- 
tain conditions congenital ; but its general diffusion 
is due to contagion. But a very small proportion 
of tuberculosis is disseminated by hereditary trans- 
mission. All the facts in the possession of this 
Commission, as a result of investigation, show that 
tuberculosis spreads with certainty when diseased 
and healthy animals are housed together. The 
contagiousness of the disease is established beyond 
a doubt, for in most cases it can be traced from 
herd to herd in localities where dairymen deal with 
each other in the purchase of cattle from infected 
herds. The lesions found on post-mortem exami- 
nation are variable, from small deposits of caseated 
tubercles to generally disseminated lesions in differ- 
ent viscera. In many cases the udders have been 
found to be the seat of extensive disease. Some 
cases of advanced disease were found in the udder 
from which pus was seen to exude from the teats." 

In summing up a discussion of the disease as it 



.124 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE, 

affects the lungs, Dr. Theobald Smith, in Bulletin 
No. 7 of the Bureau of Animal Industry, after re- 
ferring to the liability of repeated infections of the 
same animal says : '' The more frequent the infec- 
tions, the more rapid the disease, and the speedier 
the danger of the one case transmitting infection to 
other animals. The fewer the tubercle bacilli in the 
air, the more reduced the danger. It is highly prob- 
able that cattle may, under certain conditions, in- 
hale a few tubercle bacilli without permanent injury. 
They may become absorbed into the lymph glands, 
and the disease focus remain small and finally heal. 
The writer has seen the large caudal gland of the 
posterior mediastinum extensively cicatrized by old 
completely healed tuberculous foci. Such changes 
will of course not be found excepting where the 
tubercle bacilli were originally deposited. When 
the disease has once extended beyond the confines 
of the primary focus, it has acquired sufficient 
momentum to continue its destructive action un- 
interruptedly. The importance of reducing the 
amount of infection in a herd by all possible means, 
and keeping it permanently reduced, is one neces- 
sary condition requisite for the successful eradica- 
tion of tuberculosis. Even if tuberculin does not 
reach every mild case, the peculiar nature of the 
affection, in virtue of which a slight amount of 
infection may be overcome, bridges over the gap 
which may have been left by tuberculin." 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE DANGER FROM INFECTED MILK. 

A CHIEF danger to the human race from this disease 
in cattle arises from the fact that the disease is 
frequently found in the udder ; that milk is gener- 
ally used without cooking; and that it is, besides, 
the chief food of young children and invalids, who 
from their delicate constitutions are especially liable 
to take on the disease. 

It is true that experiments have often failed in 
attempting to inoculate the disease from the milk 
of animals whose udders were not affected ; but, on 
the other hand, the successful experiments under 
similar conditions have been so frequent as to 
justify the warning that the milk of all suspected 
cows should be discarded. One German expert 
produced the disease in rabbits fourteen times in 
twenty-nine experiments with milk from diseased 
cows whose udders appeared to be free from the 
disease. 

Another German operator inoculated from sixty- 
three diseased cows whose udders were sound, and 
secured results in nine cases. A microscopic exam- 
ination of the udders in the nine cases showed that 



126 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE 

only three had traces of the disease, leaving six that 
were plainly infectious, although the best scientific 
resources failed to discover the germs in the udder. 
An American experiment reported by the Bureau 
of Animal Industry found three cases of infectious 
milk in six cows w-^hose udders were apparently 
sound, — one in five being infected from one cow, 
eight in ten from another, and six from six in the 
third. 

Dr. Law has secured the following authentic 
cases of infection of human beings by the use of 
tuberculous milk. A lad five years old, with a clean 
ancestry, died from acute tuberculosis of the mesen- 
teric glands and the lungs. The family cow was 
found to be badly diseased. Four infants in a 
children's hospital in Berne, Switzerland, with 
clean ancestry, died of the disease as the result 
of infected milk. The physicians were certain in 
these cases. A North Hadley case is reported, 
w^iere a boy a year and a half old spent a week at 
an uncle's, and used the milk of a cow afterward 
found diseased. In three months he died of tuber- 
culosis of the abdomen. 

In the Medical News of March 26, 1892, Dr. E. 0. 
Shakespeare attributes one fifth of all deaths of 
infants and young children feeding on milk to 
tuberculosis, which usually begins in the digestive 
organs. 

Professor Hills and Dr. Rich cite numerous cases 
which strongly support the theory that milk is 



THE DANGER FROM INFECTED MILK. 127 

responsible for very many cases of tuberculosis, 
especially in its intestinal forms, among children. 

A Vermont herd of cows revealed seventy-eight 
out of ninety-one animals diseased by the tuberculin 
test ; and many of the swine fed on the skim milk 
from this dairy were found as tuberculous as were 
the cows. On another Vermont farm where the 
disease was located, over sixty cows, over one hun- 
dred hogs, all the chickens, the dogs, and even the 
family cat, were exterminated on account of the 
disease, and were proved diseased by autopsy. 

Dr. Abbott, of the Massachusetts State Board of 
Health, expresses this opinion : " The question of 
disease as propagated through milk is a far greater 
and a far more important one than the question 
of adulteration ; and it is one which, I think, the 
State has the same right to control, and to super- 
vise and inspect, as it has in the simple case of 
the standard of milk." 

As early as 1879 Professor Walley expressed 
the view that " as to the use of milk from animals 
in which tubercle is suspected to exist, no two 
opinions can be held ; its deleterious effect, even 
when exposed to a tolerable degree of heat, has 
been abundantly proved. ... It would be far bet- 
ter to give compensation, and have even a sus- 
pected animal destroyed, than allow her to remain 
in a herd with the probability of spreading the 
disease to her neighbors and poisoning the con- 
sumers of the milk." It should be noted that at 



128 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

this comparatively early date in the modern con- 
sideration of the question Dr. Walley was so rad- 
ical as to advise and declare against the safety of 
milk from even a " suspected " animal. 

Professor Mackenzie wrote in 1892 : " It has 
been unfortunately maintained by some writers 
that there is comparatively little danger of tuber- 
culosis in man resulting from the use of milk from 
tuberculous cows ; but it seems to me that this is 
an idea which should be combated at every point 
by sanitarians. One must, of course, grant that 
appearances show that the great majority of cases 
of phthisis are due to infection through the respi- 
ratory organs ; and as long as phthisical patients 
ignorantly spread the disease in all directions by 
allowing their sputum to fall in any locality where 
it may be converted into dust, such must be the case. 
But this very carelessness masks the real danger 
from tubercular cattle, and renders it less apparent. 
The primary tubercular lesions in the adult are 
undoubtedly commonest in the respiratory organs; 
but in infants we find the disease often as a milliary 
tuberculosis, or tuberculosis of the meninges, or of 
the joints, — all conditions which may be taken to 
point to an infection through the intestinal tract; 
and it is just this class, namely, infants, which are 
most exposed to the danger of infection from milk." 

Bollinger showed that a pure culture of tuber- 
cle bacilli gives positive results in inoculation 
experiments in a dilution of 1 to 400,000 ; thus 



THE DANGER FROM INFECTED MILK. 129 

showing that milk may be infectious when the 
bacilli are so scanty as to be undiscoverable with 
the microscope without an extremely exhaustive 
examination. 

Professor W. H, Welch, of Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity, in an address before the American Medical 
Association in 1889, quotes Bollinger's statistics, 
that with cows affected with extensive tuberculosis 
the milk was infectious in 80 per cent ; in cows 
moderately infected milk was infectious in 66 
per cent ; and with only slight infection the milk 
was infectious in 33 per cent. Dr. Welch added : 
" There is reason to believe that many of the so- 
called scrofulous affections of children are due to 
infections from milk from tuberculous cows." 

At the Paris Congress in 1888, Professor Bang, 
of Copenhagen, reported on twenty-seven cows 
whose udders were diseased, in which the milk of 
every animal proved tuberculous. 

Professor Mackenzie reports, as a result of his 
own experiments, that where no udder disease 
appeared on post-mortem, 40 per cent of the milk 
was infected. 

After an exhaustive summary of his reading 
and observation Professor Bryce concludes : " That 
while the great number of deaths from tubercu- 
losis in children, as from consumption of the 
bowels, points to the probability of frequent cases 
of infection through milk and other food by way 
of the alimentary tract, yet the still larger number 

9 



130 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE, 

of cases of lung tubercuJosis in children, the rela- 
tively small number of calves and young cattle in- 
fected with tuberculosis, and the comparatively few 
instances of tuberculous cattle in which the intes- 
tines, mesentery, or other abdominal organs are 
found on examination to be exclusively tubercular, 
point very strongly to the conclusion that infec- 
tion by way of the intestines is relatively seldom 
in cattle : and that when it does take place in 
children, it most probably is dependent on the pre- 
viously unhealthy and congested state of the mucous 
membrane of the walls of the stomach and of the 
intestines." 

Asa typical and not an extravagant type of the 
possible sequence of diseases, all referable to infec- 
tion from tuberculous milk in infancy, the follow- 
ing may be considered. A female infant is infected 
and has an attack of cholera infantum ; she is saved 
by medical skill and good nursing. A little later 
in life she is subject to convulsions. If cerebro- 
spinal meningitis supervenes, death will probably 
end the sequence. But if not, she will be " ail- 
ing and delicate " on attaining the age of puberty ; 
after her first child-birth she will show tendency to 
pulmonary consumption, and, if she survives this, 
will drop away at the '' change of life." Such a 
sequence has attended the life of many a woman ; 
and only the recent investigation of tuberculosis 
has made possible an intelligent diagnosis of the 
various ailments, and their reference to a single 
infantile cause. 



THE DANGER FROM INFECTED MILK. 131 

Dr. Theobald Smith, in Bulletin No. 7 of the 
Bureau of Animal Industry, discusses the dissemi- 
nation of the disease within the body from the 
primary seat of infection. He says : " After the 
lodgment of tubercle bacilli in the primary focus, 
where their multiplication stimulates the formation 
of neoplasms or tubercles peculiar to this malady, 
the disease may after a time become stationary, and 
the tuberculous products finally undergo calcifica- 
tion. In most cases, however, the disease, after 
being purely local for a time, and not disturbing 
the normal functions of the animal to any recog- 
nizable degree, spreads from the original focus 
more or less rapidly, and invades a greater number 
of organs and structures the longer the life of the 
infected animal continues. The courses which the 
virus takes in moving from the primary focus, or 
foci, to establish new centres are subject to much 
puzzling variation, and have been the subject of 
much investigation and speculation. ... In gen- 
eral, the tubercle bacilli may be disseminated either 
by the lymph or the blood channels, or by both com- 
bined. To these may be added the dissemination 
by contiguity, which is probably responsible for 
most forms of tuberculosis of the serous mem- 
branes (pearly disease)." 

While the world is waiting for governmental 
action that shall greatly reduce the sources of 
infection of tuberculosis, the question of wliether 
meat and milk that arc or may be infected can be 



132 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE, 

SO treated as to make their use safe to the public 
is of interest. In a later chapter of this volume 
Dr. Law's observations on the peril from tuber- 
culin are fully stated. Against this peril there 
seems to be no shield. But against i\\(d infection 
there is a shield within the reach of every one, but 
quite liable to be so neglected or so carelessly used 
as to demand especial emphasis on its importance 
wherever this subject is discussed. 

It has been before stated that a temperature of 
167 degrees Fahrenheit is sufficient to destroy the 
vitalized germs of the disease. It is, therefore, 
only necessary to cook meats and to scald milk to 
this temperature to render them comparatively 
safe. 

While beef muscle is not usually affected, numer- 
ous small glands embedded in it are frequently so. 
Therefore, thorough cooking is essential. The flesh 
of swine is more generally affected, and is therefore 
more dangerous. Rare roasts, steaks, and cutlets 
should be avoided, as experiment has shown that, 
although they may have been subjected to a tem- 
perature considerably higher than that above in- 
dicated, there is no certainty that their interior 
portions may not contain living germs. Experi- 
ments have resulted in succcessful inoculations, 
even after meat has been generously roasted. 
With milk, the use of a sterilizer or a double kettle 
is entirely practicable and safe, the only precau- 
tion necessary being to continue the heat for from 



THE DANGER FROM INFECTED MILK. 133 

fifteen to thirty minutes. Care is necessary, in 
preparing the milk for infants, not to raise the 
temperature much above 167 degrees, as this would 
so nearly boil it as to cook its albuminous particles, 
rendering them indigestible, and harmful as infant 
food. 

But Dr. Ernst is very emphatic on the method of 
sterilization. He says : " If I sterilized the milk 
myself, I should be satisfied ; but it is not a method 
that can be applied generally with success. It is 
not a safe method at all, particularly for the supply 
of milk to the poor, unless something is done here 
similar to what is done in one or two of the cities 
abroad, where the milk is sterilized for the poor at 
the rate of eight, ten, or twenty thousand flasks a 
day. But that, of course, is something that we 
cannot attempt." 

Of the result of cooking meats, Dr. Ernst also 
says : " It destroys the germs, certainly, on the 
outside ; but it does not destroy them on the inside. 
Every experiment that has been made goes to show 
that a piece of meat is precisely the same as a roll 
of cloth. The outside, receiving a high tempera- 
ture, is necessarily affected by it ; but the desired 
result is not produced on the inside for hours and 
hours. No roast of meat would be disinfected on 
the inside by two or three hours' cooking." 

Bulletin No. 7 of the Bureau of Animal Industry 
records a series of carefully conducted experiments 
to discover the relation existing between the condi- 



134 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

tioii of a tuberculous animal and the degree of milk 
infection. Some information was also sought con- 
cerning the probable extent to which tubercle bacilli 
occur in a general city milk supply. In the latter 
class of experiments, the microscope failed to dis- 
close the presence of the bacilli. In experiments 
by the injection of guinea-pigs, forty trials were 
made with nineteen different samples of milk. Only 
one trial disclosed infection on autopsy of the pigs. 

In injection experiments with milk from twelve 
cows, known to be tuberculous, upon thirty-two pigs, 
only one transmission of the disease was accom- 
plished. In another similar test, where repeated 
injections were made in the same pig, a similar 
negative result appeared. The conclusion of the 
observer. Dr. E. C. Schroeder, is that " a careful in- 
spection of all dairy herds which has for its object 
the detection and removal of all advanced cases of 
tuberculosis, and especially of cows with diseased 
udders, would probably exclude the sale of most in- 
fected milk." He also says : " These experimental 
observations further show that now and then the pre- 
sumably mixed milk of dairies may contain enough 
tubercle bacilli to prove fatal to guinea-pigs." 

While the foregoing is quoted as a substantial 
support to the position of those who deny the gen- 
eral peril from the use of tuberculous milk, it does 
not contribute anything in support of the opponents 
of the theory of the infectiousness and general 
danger of the disease. In any candid view of the 



THE DANGER FROM INFECTED MILK, 135 

question, the results of the as carefully conducted 
and more extended experiments of Drs. Ernst and 
Peters, elsewhere given, should be duly weighed. 

Dr. A. W. Clement, of Baltimore, Md., says : '' It 
is the general opinion and belief that the major- 
ity of cases of human tuberculosis are acquired from 
the dried particles of sputa in the air ; that a very 
small percentage probably arises from the ingestion 
of infected meat. Of course it is quite possible that 
such infection may take place even in adults, as the 
contact of the tubercle [bacilli ?] with any part of 
the body may produce infection. In children, how- 
ever, it is quite different. I think the majority of 
cases in children are in the intestinal canal ; and 
in those cases, of course, it is quite probable that 
most of the infection is due to the ingestion of 
food, of milk especially." 

Dr. W. E. B. Miller, of Camden, N. J., gives a 
case which lie considers conclusive. He says : " It 
was the case of a mother having raised a family 
of four or five children ; and there were three or 
four older ones who were perfectly healthy, as were 
the father and mother, and no trace of consumption 
existed among their ancestors as far back as they 
could go, and no tuberculosis whatever in the fam- 
ily. The mother had ceased to furnish a sufficient 
milk supply from which to support the child, and 
they purchased a Jersey cow, . . . especially be- 
cause they wanted to secure the milk from a single 
cow for the support of the child. The child lived 



136 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

and grew to be about two years old, when it devel- 
oped tuberculosis and died ; and in the mean time 
a second child was born ; it also developed tuber- 
culosis ; and last summer a third child was born, 
which now has tuberculosis ; — and they have all 
three been raised from this cow. In this connection 
I might say I was called to see that cow, and found 
one of the worst cases of tuberculosis that I have 
ever met and made a physical examination of in my 
life. . . . There is no doubt in my mind that all 
three of these children received the infection from 
the milk of that animal." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CONCLUSIVE TESTIMONY AS TO MILK INFECTION. 

Doctors Ernst and Peters conducted, in 1890, 
and later, under the auspices of the Massachusetts 
Society for Promoting Agriculture, an exhaustive 
series of experiments by inoculation and by feeding, 
and made exhaustive inquiries of physicians and 
veterinarians, to determine the danger of infection 
through milk from tuberculous cows. Their pre- 
liminary report shows the following results, which 
have but just been made public in detail : " From 
114 samples of milk from cows showing clinically 
no udder infection, 31.5 per cent tuberculous by 
the microscope ; 74 guinea-pigs inoculated with the 
same milk, 13 per cent tuberculous on post-mor- 
tem ; 12 pigs fed with the same, 50 per cent tuber- 
culosis ; 23 calves fed with the same, 23 per cent 
tuberculous." 

At the close of a report to the Massachusetts 
Legislature of 1894, they conclude emphatically : 
" (1) That the milk from cows affected with tuber- 
culosis in any part of the body may contain the 
infection of tuberculosis. (2) That the virus is 
present whether there is disease of the udder or 



138 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

not. (3) Tliat there is no ground for the assertion 
that there must be a lesion of udder before the 
milk can contain the infection of tuberculosis. 
(4) That, on the contrary, the bacilli of tuberculosis 
are present and active in a very large proportion of 
cases in the milk of cows affected with tuberculosis, 
but with no discoverable lesion of the udder." 

In response to their inquiries of physicians and 
veterinarians in all parts of tliis country, they re- 
ceived numerous answers. The following are from 
those who had observed or suspected the infection 
of the human family from tuberculous milk. 

From Dr. J. A. Gordon, of Quincy, Mass. : " A 
child about ten months old, bottle-fed, developed 
tuberculosis and died. The cow from which the 
milk was obtained died of tuberculosis a few weeks 
afterward." 

From George H. Bailey, D. V. S., State Veteri- 
nary of Maine : '' I feel perfectly warranted in 
saying ' Yes.' I have a case now under observa- 
tion, where, about a year ago, I condemned a tuber- 
culous cow that proved upon post-mortem to be an 
advanced case of pulmonary tuberculosis. The 
milk from this cow was the sole supply of the 
family, a man and wife ; and although there is no 
history in the family of the woman that can possi- 
bly be traced to phthisis,* she is in an advanced 
stage of consumption, as I have every reason to 
believe from the direct use of the milk of the cow 
that I condemned. I have another case that closely 



TESTIMONY AS TO MILK INFECTION, 139 

approximates the above, but where the history in- 
volves the grandparents of the subject." 

From Dr. Cornelius KoUock, of Cheraw, S. C. : 
He wrote of a case where a strong, vigorous child, 
without a trace of disease in its ancestry, lost its 
mother at birth, and was suckled by a woman well 
advanced in pulmonary consumption, in opposition 
to his remonstrance. The child began to pine at 
twenty months, was ailing ever after, had hemor- 
rhage at ten years, and died of tuberculosis at four- 
teen years of age. He says : " I pronounce this an 
undoubted case of tuberculosis being transmitted 
through the milk of the woman who nursed the 
child." 

From Dr. M. Stalker, veterinary surgeon of the 
Iowa State Board of Health : " A few days since T 
made a post-mortem examination on a cow, the 
milk of which had been used to nourish an infant. 
The child died. A searching physical examination 
of the cow failed to detect the slightest trace of 
disease ; but the post-mortem examination revealed 
in the clearest possible manner extensive tubercu- 
lous deposits." 

From Dr. E. T. Williams, of Roxbury, Mass. : 
"I think I have seen many such, — for example, 
tubercular disease from milk, mostly in hand-fed 
babies of perfectly healthy parentage, developing 
tabes mesenterica, phthisis, and tubercular menin- 
gitis ; yet I cannot prove it scientifically in a single 
case. ... I know that diseased milk breeds tuber- 



140 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

culosis ; but when you ask for details of cases, I 
am at a loss to give them." 

From Dr. R. C. Ward, of Northfield, Mass. : '' I 
have no doubt but tuberculosis in man may come 
from the consumption of milk from diseased cows." 

From Dr. J. T. Whittaker, of Cincinnati, Oliio : 
''I have had cases — one or two children — of basi- 
lar meningitis secondary to intestinal affections and 
independent of bronchial catarrh, in new houses, 
parents and attendants unaffected, brought up on 
the bottle, which I could interpret in no other 
way, especially as the milk used was from one cow 
only." 

From Dr. P. Paquin, of Columbia, Mo., State 
Veterinarian : '' I have seen three cases of tubercu- 
losis in human beina's that seemed to have origi- 
nated in cow's milk. I have positively induced 
tuberculosis in animals in five or six cases, by feed- 
ing or inoculating milk from cows having tubercu- 
losis in the udder." 

From Dr. J. A. Kite, of Nantucket, Mass., who, 
in answer to Dr. Ernst's question, says : " Yes, but 
not with scientific accuracy. There were tliree 
cases which came under my care from another. 
All died. No other cause tenable." 

From Dr. Arthur H. Nichols, Boston, Mass.: 
'' While believing for many years that our milk 
supply miglit be a prominent factor in tlie dissemi- 
nation of tuberculosis, I have never found an oppor- 
tunity for demonstrating such a relationship." 



TESTIMONY AS TO MILK INFECTION. 141 

From Dr. 0. H. O'Brien, of Rockport, Mass. : 
"Have seen several, two in particular, in which I 
strongly believed the cause might be found in the 
milk of tuberculous cows." 

Froni Dr. Henry F. Leonard, of Boston, Mass. : 
He writes of a case where a tuberculous cow fur- 
nished milk that was used by two adult men, and 
both died of consumption. "Others saw the cow, 
and would not take her milk ; of these none were 
ill." 

From Dr. Beverly Robinson, of New York City : 
" I have remarked that children have lost flesh and 
strength at times, without assignable cause, and 
with a very clear hereditary history. In such in- 
stances, when the parents were closely questioned, 
I have found occasionally that the children were 
fed almost exclusively on milk. Now, when the 
source of the milk supply was inquired into, it was 
discovered that it was from a locality where I had 
reason to suspect that there was little or no intelli- 
gent supervision of the cattle, and where from the 
poverty of the people and their bad hygienic sur- 
roundings I premised that there might be tubercu- 
lous cattle in the herds." 

From Dr. Andrew F. Shea, of Lawrence, Mass. : 
" I could not trace any case of tuberculosis to milk 
supply ; but I have seen cases of tuberculosis in 
cows in the surrounding country which I feel sure 
would give rise to tuberculosis in a fit subject 
drinking such milk." 



142 TUBERCULOSIS AMOSG CATTLE. 

From Dr. Herbert F. Williams, of Brooklyn, 
N. Y. : '-My difficulty has been with the general 
statements of patients. In fact, after discovering 
that none of them have been large milk-drinkers, I 
conclude it would prove nothing if they were ; for 
one drop of tubercularized milk would do the in- 
fection, if the subjective conditions are right. . . . 
I believe that milk is a convenient vehicle, and the 
most probable one, for human infection. Investi- 
gations into the sudden sicknesses of healthy in- 
fants, pointing to gastroenteric irritation, with 
subjective cerebral symptoms, would seem to me to 
be the field most likely to lead to positive results." 

From Dr. Francis P. Kinnicutt, of Xew York 
City : '' While firmly convinced that many cases 
of tuberculosis in children which I see have their 
origin in infected milk, such a genesis is exceed- 
ingly difficult to demonstrate in a great city, with 
its milk supply drawn from so many sources." 

From Dr. Charles E. Inches, of Boston, Mass. : 
" From several cases I had become suspicious that 
tuberculosis originated in the child from nursing, 
and therefore have for a long time insisted that, 
where the mother was suffering from tuberculous 
disease, the infant should be ' reared by hand.' " 

The last case refers to human milk, but a wise 
discretion would view the milk of a tuberculous 
cow with equal suspicion. 

From Dr. X. Bridge, of Chicago, who in answer 
to Dr. Ernst's inquiry as to observation of infection 



TESTIMONY AS TO MILK INFECTION. 143 

from milk replied negatively, but added the follow- 
ing significant sentence : '' The fact is, those who 
can, kill the bacilli, however acquired ; those who 
cannot, are killed by them." 

From Dr. Israel T. Dana, of Portland, Me., who, 
while replying negatively to Dr. Ernst's inquiry for 
known cases of infection from milk, wrote : " I have 
had cases of infants brought up on cow's milk, 
where neither heredity nor environment would lead 
to the expectation of tuberculosis, in which tuber- 
culous symptoms have rapidly developed, with fatal 
terminations. The symptoms have oftener been 
abdominal than pulmonary. ... In some of the 
cases the most natural explanation of the phe- 
nomena present has seemed to me to be in the line 
of infectious tubercle-producing cow's milk." 

From W. J. Coates, M. D., V. S., who, in reply 
to Dr. Ernst's inquiries, indicated a very important 
point in connection with tracing a source of infec- 
tion : He wrote : " In regard to the human subject, 
it is difficult to trace, as there is too great a differ- 
ence between cause and effect ; bv the time the 
physician could recognize the disease, the milk 
source would be lost sight of. A man miglit be 
ailing for, many years, and liis disease not appre- 
ciated by his physician, until some day he takes 
what is commonly termed a 'cold,' and develops 
acute symptoms of phthisis, which will be given 
credit to atmospheric influences, and not to a source 
of meat or milk supply which may have been years 
before" 



144 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

From Dr. F. Forchheimer, of Cincinnati, Ohio, 
who, while saying he could not establish " positive 
connection " of the disease with the milk supply, 
added the following most suggestive observations : 
" According to my notion, tuberculosis is by far the 
most common of children's affections ; again, most 
common in a localized form. The place where it is 
most frequently found in them is somewhere in the 
alimentary tract, or organs connected with it. Milk 
is the most common article of diet in children ; 
milk contains tuberculous material to an extent 
which, according to my idea, is not properly esti- 
mated ; so that I have the conviction that tubercu- 
losis is frequently caused by milk. As to a record 
of cases of this connection, or scientific proof of 
the same, I should hesitate a very long time before 
I would put down any individual case as in evi- 
dence. Cases are not uncommon, in practice, in 
which a tuberculous mother nurses an infant, which 
dies, let us say, of a meningitis tuberculosa. Yet 
in such a case, in which I am convinced that the 
mother has transmitted tuberculosis to her child, 
how can I present evidence sufficiently conclusive 
to prove that infection has not come from another 
and extraneous source ? I have seen children who, 
according to the statement made to me, have had 
no other food but milk, with the following set of 
lesions : tuberculosis of the glands about the neck, 
of intestine, mesenteric glands, lungs, and menin- 
ges. I am justified, I think, in the conclusion that 



TESTIMONY AS TO MILK INFECTION. 145 

the tuberculosis was produced by a something in- 
troduced into the alimentary canal. I am con- 
vinced that it was by means of milk ; yet I am not 
justified in this individual case in stating that this 
was the cause of my knowledge. In other words, 
I cannot put down such a case as one capable of 
exact demonstration." 

Dr. Ernst, in his final summary, just issued, based 
upon all his investigations, says : " (1) While the 
transmission of tuberculosis by milk is probably not 
the most important means by which the disease is 
propagated, it is something to be guarded against 
most carefully. (2) The possibility of milk from 
tuberculous udders containing the infectious ele- 
ment is undeniable. (3) With the evidence here 
presented, it is equally undeniable that milk from 
diseased cows, with no appreciable lesion of the 
udder, may and not infrequently does, contain the 
bacillus of the disease. (4) Therefore all such 
milk should be condemned for food." 

Dr. Ernst summarizes all the replies from med- 
ical men to his letter as follows : — 

Positive, mother to child 8 

" cows' milk to child 11 

Suspicious cases 16 

Negative, disbelief 9 

" simply 893 

Out of practice 15 

No attention 61 

Total of replies 1013 

10 



146 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

As showing the percentage of medical men whose 
attention has been attracted to cases such as the 
circular made inquiry of, he excludes the replies of 
those out of practice, or who have paid no attention 
to the matter. This would leave 937 observers ; 
and counting the positive and the suspicious cases 
together, he finds that 3.7 per cent of observers 
have had their suspicions aroused, — "^ a result that 
is as unexpected as it is surprising in its size, if one 
takes into consideration the difficulties surround- 
ing the question, and the newness of the subject." 
Besides this, and aside from those reckoned in the 
above per cent, there were thirty who expressed 
their entire belief in the actual occurrence of such 
a method of transmission of the disease. 

The replies from veterinarians were still more 
conclusive. Dr. Ernst classifies all the answers 
received from these as follows : — 

Positive IJ: 

Suspicious 9 

Negative 31 

Total replies 54 

Thus it appears that of fifty-four veterinarians 
fourteen, or nearly 26 per cent, have seen positive 
cases ; and twenty-three, or over 42.59 per cent, 
have seen cases where they felt justified in suspect- 
ing such an origin of the disease as the investigation 
was seeking. 

Dr. Ernst remarks of the last quoted percentage: 



TESTIMONY AS TO MILK INFECTION. 147 

" It is startling in its size, until one remembers the 
greater facilities that veterinarians have for observ- 
ing such cases and their origin." He also remarks : 
" Combining the statistics obtained from the two 
sources, it appears that there were 991 answers 
received to the circular letter that should be 
counted ; and that among these there were fifty- 
eight gentlemen who have seen, or suspected, the 
existence of such cases as were inquired about, — 
giving a percentage of over 5.84, which seems to 
be somewhat remarkable, for the reasons already 
given." 

It should be considered, in estimating the weight 
to be given the foregoing testimony, that the present 
knowledge of the details of the action of tuberculo- 
sis is of but recent origin ; that many experienced 
and useful medical men do much of their work by 
routine methods, and their attention is not usually 
attracted to the relations suggested by Dr. Ernst's 
inquiries; and that, as Dr. Forchheimer suggests, 
scientific demonstration of the facts is of peculiar 
difficulty. In view of these considerations, the posi- 
tive assertions of only a small number of observers 
are most important. Such observations are, though 
comparatively few, far more impressive and con- 
vincing than any number of confessions of indiffer- 
ence or of failure to observe. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

ANOTHER PERIL FROM THE DISEASE. 

The infection of mankind by the tubercle bacillus 
has been carefully studied and demonstrated, but 
Dr. Law is the first to point out another danger 
from the disease. 

In explaining the production and the use of tu- 
berculin it was stated that it is a physiological 
poison, the life product of the bacillus. Dr. Law 
discusses at length the effect of this poison upon 
the system, and shows that it pervades the entire 
muscular tissue of a tuberculous animal, and may 
be taken into the human system whenever the meat 
of such an animal is used for food. 

While there may be degrees of peril, or in mild 
cases degrees of safety, in the use of the cooked 
meat of a tuberculous animal, the cooking temper- 
ature possibly being enough to destroy the germ, 
Dr. Law points out the fact that the poisonous 
character of tuberculin is unchanged by heat, and 
that '' the professional mind in concentrating its 
attention on tubercular infection has practically 
entirely overlooked the no less real, and in many 
cases no less dangerous, fact of tuberculin poi- 
soning.' 




B 



^ -5. 



w 
Pi 
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o 

O 



ANOTHER PERIL FROM THE DISEASE. 149 

Tuberculin, when taken into the human system 
with the meat which is charged with it through 
disease, produces fever and the impairment of the 
functions of assimilation and secretion. The same 
results follow as in the case of the production of 
tuberculin through the progress of the disease in 
human subjects, — death in these cases resulting 
not from the ravages of the bacillus so much as 
from the poisoning by tuberculin, which is thrown 
off as a result of its life. 

While the system of a tuberculous patient may 
for a long time resist and withstand the poisonous 
effects of the amount of tuberculin thrown off by its 
own bacilli, more prompt and alarming results fol- 
low the absorption of an added quantity of tuberculin 
in the meat of infected animals : the bacilli are 
abnormally excited, their multiplication and their 
activity are increased, and the crisis of the disease 
is hastened. And it should be remembered that, 
as it is in the early stages of the disease that the 
bacilli are most active, so it is in this stage that 
the meat of diseased animals is most fully charged 
with tuberculin, while it is at the same stage that 
the same poison is most effective in the human 
subject. 

Dr. Law expresses this idea in the following vig- 
orous language : — 

" It is this extension of the tuberculosis under 
the influence of the toxic (poisonous) products of 
the bacillus which raises the most important ques- 



150 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE, 

tion in connection with the consumption by man of 
the flesh and dairy products of tuberculous animals ; 
and yet this question has been overlooked by sani- 
tarians in the most unaccountable way. It has 
seemed enough for them that the living tubercle 
bacillus did not exist in the juices of the muscles 
nor in the meat. It seems never to have occurred 
to them that all the soluble poisonous products of 
this bacillus were constantly circulating in the 
blood which passes through the muscles, and that 
they equally traverse the blood-vessels of the mam- 
mary glands, and escape into the milk. No pathol- 
ogist can for a moment doubt this general diffusion 
of these products in the tuberculous subject. Accept- 
ing then as undeniable the presence of the soluble 
chemical poisons in blood, flesh, and milk, it follows 
that those who eat this flesh or milk are continually 
taking in small doses of tuberculin ; and in that 
case, if they are already the victims of tubercu- 
losis, in however slight or indolent a form, this con- 
tinuous accession of the poison will rouse the morbid 
process into greater activity and secure a dangerous 
extension. 

" If we now consider the frightful prevalence of 
tuberculosis in the human race, — that here in New 
York every eighth person dies of tuberculosis, that 
in cities like Vienna 85 per cent of the people suffer 
from it, and that in our own cities 80 to 50 per cent 
contract it at some period of life, — we see what a 
fearful risk is being run by the utilization of the meat 



ANOTHER PERIL FROM THE DISEASE. 151 

and milk of animals so affected, even if it could be 
shown that such meat and milk were in themselves 
free from the living bacillus. Such reckless con- 
sumption of the products of tuberculous animals 
can only be looked on as a direct means of sealing 
the fate of that large proportion of the community 
which are already slightly affected with tubercu- 
losis." 

Against this peril sterilization of milk and the 
thorough cooking of meats are no defence, for the 
poisonous character of tuberculin is unchanged by 
these processes. 

Experiments have shown that, after the inocula- 
tion of guinea-pigs with the baciHus, the adminis- 
tration of tuberculin greatly hastened the onset of 
general tuberculosis. Dr. Law points out that, if this 
is the result with these animals, — which, although 
very susceptible to tuberculosis, are not easily poi- 
soned by tuberculin, — the peril is far greater to 
man; and he presents a computation showing this 
peril to be twenty thousand times greater, weight 
for weight. He concludes : " We may freely allow 
that the transmission of the bacillus from man to 
man is far more common than from beast to man ; 
but thougli tlie implanted seed may liave been in 
many cases derived from a fellow man, its subsequent 
destructive progress may be due far more to the con- 
stant accessions of the soluble poisonous products 
conveyed in the meat and milk of tuberculous 
animals. Without these constant doses of soluble 



152 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

poisons of tubercle, the implanted germ would in 
many cases have proved comparatively harmless. 
Although it could be proved in regard to many 
cases that the cow had not contributed the seed of 
the disease,, she is left little less responsible for the 
destructive progress and fatal result. The germ, 
which might have remained comparatively dormant 
and harmless in the absence of the poisoned meat 
and milk, is by these stimulated to a more deadly 
energy." 

Dr. Kellogg adopts Dr. Law's view, and says : 
'^ In the blood and lymph of every animal suffering 
from tuberculosis there must be circulating a varia- 
ble amount of extremely toxic substance called 
tuberculin. The milk as well as the juices of the 
flesh of such an animal must always contain a cer- 
tain proportion of this poison. It is thus apparent 
that wlioever makes use of the flesh or milk of such 
an animal is thereby introducing into his system 
more or less of this extremely active and dangerous 
poison." 

He also says : " Since the fluid portion of the 
milk is made up from the plasma of the animal's 
blood, it is evident that it must contain at least 
as large a proportion of this extremely soluble 
and poisonous product as is found in the animal's 
blood, — perhaps even a larger quantity, the readi- 
ness with which toxic substances of various sorts 
are excreted by the mammary gland being too com- 
mon an observation to require more than mention. 



ANOTHER PERIL FROM THE DISEASE. 153 

... If present in the animal when alive, it will 
certainly be present in its flesh and milk ; and 
those who make use of these infectious substances 
as food must run an enormous risk of injury." 

While suggesting that this view of Dr. Law may 
not be fully borne out by later investigations. Dr. 
Salmon says the effect of the milk and flesh of 
tuberculous animals on the consumers is a very 
grave one. " There is danger, of course. We do 
not know how much depends on cooking. Meat 
and milk of tuberculous animals does contain tu- 
berculin. At present we do not know the exact 
danger. Live-stock boards must take cognizance 
of such diseases." 



CHAPTER XV. 

NECESSARY MEASURES FOR PROTECTION. 

It seems the unanimous verdict of the experts 
who have given the subject thorough study, that 
the disease in question can only be met by its 
eradication from every herd kept for the supply of 
food products. No inspection of these products 
can meet the case. Every animal must be tested, 
and tuberculin is the only known test upon which 
any reliance can be placed. Without it there is no 
possible guaranty for the products of the dairy. 

Dr. Law says: ''The sanitary officers who will 
affect to deal with this disease in herds without the 
aid of tuberculin are at best but pruning the tips 
of the branches of the evil tree. Public money 
ought not to be thrown away on such fruitless and 
ineffective work." 

It is essential, after a stable has had all its in- 
fected animals removed and destroyed, that all 
cobwebs, dust, etc. should be removed from every 
part; the mangers, feed-boxes, drinking troughs, 
pails, etc. thoroughly cleansed ; and the whole prem- 
ises and belongings thoroughly fumigated with burn- 
ing sulphur, and all wood and iron work and glass 



NECESSARY MEASURES FOR PROTECTION. 155 

sprayed with diluted corrosive sublimate. As has 
been heretofore stated, the germ of the disease is 
retentive of life, and only by thorough work and 
strong disinfectants can the purity of a stable be 
assured after it has once been infected. 

Care should be taken also to prevent the access 
of untested animals to a tested herd, and no animal 
should be added to the herd without test. All farm 
animals should also be tested, and human beings 
suffering with tuberculosis should not be allowed 
to come in contact with the herd. 

Every carcass designed for human consumption 
should be inspected, and not only the meat but all 
the internal organs should be proved clean. All 
meat supplies should be slaughtered at public abat- 
toirs, under the inspection of a government official. 

Professor Hills and Dr. Rich say: ''It is ques- 
tioned by some veterinarians whether for practical 
purposes animals very slightly affected should be 
considered tuberculous. Possibly they might live 
for years without marked advance of the disease. 
But who shall say in such cases when the danger 
line is passed ? Is it worth while to prolong for a 
year or two the life of a few confessedly tuberculous 
animals and run the risk of infecting a herd as well 
as human beings ? While many animals but slightly 
affected might live for years in apparent healtli and 
usefulness, a tuberculous animal, whatever its con- 
dition, is a constant menace to the other members 
of the herd, as well as to those who care for it or 



156 TUBERCULOSIS AMOXG CATTLE. 

consume its products. If to-day the germs are in- 
active, to-morrow they may pass into the blood, to 
the udder, and infect the milk. It is stated on 
good authority that the tubercle germs may exist in 
the milk even when the udder is not affected. The 
preservation of a single tuberculous animal invites 
renewed disease. There are as yet few, if any, 
authenticated published accounts of cured bovine 
tuberculosis, although possibly favorable climatic 
conditions may arrest the progress of tlie disease. 
Viewed solely from a monetary standpoint, the 
truer economy lies in the exclusion of every possi- 
sible source of future infection." 

Professor Walley presents the practical view in 
the following remarks : " In a discussion on this sub- 
ject^ which arose out of a paper read by me, ... I 
was taken to task for not giving the members of 
the Association any information as to the cure of 
tubercle. My answer was, that I did not perceive 
how I was to be blamed for not devising measures 
for the combating of a disease which had taxed the 
energies and defied the efforts of many successive 
generations of physicians and pathologists ; and, 
moreover, that as no practical purpose could be 
served by curing a tuberculous animal, — seeing 
that it was useless for breeding, dangerous for 
dairy purposes, valueless and dangerous as a com- 
panion, and its flesh nocuous for human food, — I 
failed to perceive why time should be wasted in 
such an inquiry, but believed rather that all our 



NECESSARY MEASURES FOR PROTECTION. 157 

energies should be directed toward the prevention 
and eradication of the disease." 

The above was written in 1879, but nothing has 
been developed since then to detract from the force 
or wisdom of Professor Walley's opinion. Much, 
indeed, has been learned, but it has all been in the 
direction of emphasizing his opinion, or of reveal- 
ing the impracticability of remedial measures. It 
is worthy of note, also, that, even at this early date 
the writer recognized the fact that, even if the dis- 
ease was checked for a time, its germs might later 
be wakened to renewed and mischievous activity. 

Professor P. H. Bryce says, in a paper published 
in 1892: " There are in the United States forty-two 
thousand physicians (graduated in ten years), whose 
duty I assume to be to maintain the people in good 
health, or to heal those who are sick. What num- 
ber of veterinary physicians is there, I ask, who are 
devoting their attention to the problem of maintain- 
ing these milk-producing animals in health, or in 
preventing evil results from attending the use of 
milk, unwholesome at the time of taking from the 
cow, or in its often strange and eventful history up 
to the time it reaches the consumer ? " 

After enumerating the long list of infectious dis- 
eases to whicli cattle are subject, he remarks : " As 
a rule, it is not those vadA^diiQ^ fulminantes^ slaying 
whole herds in a few weeks, that cause us alarm in 
the matter of milk supply, but rather those of less 
acute diseases, which, owing partly to ignorance, 



158 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE, 

partly to carelessness, and not infrequently to cul- 
pable cupidity, while not depriving a cow wholly of 
her milk-producing ability, are disseminated in milk 
supplies to an extent proportionate to the numerous 
opportunities offered and to the vulnerability of the 
person taking the milk." 

This suggestion describes tuberculosis and illus- 
trates its perils with great accuracy ; and Professor 
Bryce continues, a little later : " But as compared 
with other diseases, the one which must be recog- 
nized on every hand as being par excellence that to 
which sanitarians, medical health officers, and phy- 
sicians must devote their attention is tuberculosis. 
That tuberculosis causes one seventh of all the 
deaths of the human race is stated by reliable sta- 
tisticians ; that it prevails in almost every land is 
well known ; that it is disseminated everywhere on 
the American continent is equally well established ; 
and that it has greatly increased in prevalence is, 
unfortunately, too true. That until recent years it 
prevailed but little in American cattle is probable ; 
but that it has increased, as animals improved by in- 
and-in breeding have been imported for stock pur- 
poses, is well known ; and that it has been rapidly 
developed by the growth of dairying for the supply 
of milk to the enormously increased populations of 
our American cities has now become a well authen- 
ticated fact." 

That the above was published in 1892 suggests 
that the present interest in the subject is not a late- 



NECESSARY MEASURES FOR PROTECTION. 159 

born "fad," as has been ignorantly asserted in 
some respectable quarters. 

Professor Bryce computes that three per cent of 
cattle die annually from tuberculosis. This rate, 
in Massachusetts alone, means a loss of a little 
more than seven thousand animals per year. These 
at $30 per head represent a net loss of 1210,000 
each year. In view of such a loss now going on, 
the expenditure of an equal sum each year, for a 
few years, to practically eradicate the disease, loses 
something of its formidable aspect. In fact, taken 
in connection with the peril involved in delay or in 
half-way measures, liberal and prompt expendi- 
ture seems the only economical and conservative 
policy. 

In 1889, M. Arloing, a French veterinarian, bas- 
ing his computation upon statistics from public 
abattoirs, computed that five adult cattle in one 
thousand were tuberculous. The French Minister 
of Agriculture, in 1887, reported 8,623,441 adult 
cattle. M. Arloing's estimate would show, there- 
fore, about 45,000 diseased cattle in France. Their 
value is estimated at $60 each ; their immediate 
destruction would therefore cost $1,350,000. It 
should be remembered, however, that the system 
of inspection in the French abattoirs in 1888 and 
1889 was not nearly so searching as is tuberculin, 
and that its use would doubtless largely increase 
M. Arloing's per cent, and consequently the cost to 
France of cleansing itself from the disease. 



160 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE, 

Dr. Kellogg records it as his firm belief, " that 
the wonderful development in bacteriology and 
physiological chemistry which the last decade has 
witnessed has brought to us a solution of this ques- 
tion ; and that it only remains for sanitarians to 
grapple with it resolutely, and to urge upon national, 
state, and municipal authorities everywhere the 
duty of undertaking a thoroughgoing and unrelent- 
ing crusade against a disease which is annually 
responsible for more deaths than war, pestilence, 
and famine combined, — a disease which has been 
aptly denominated ' The Great White Plague,' and 
which is, in the light of modern researches, as 
proper a subject for public health measures, restric- 
tion, quarantine, and isolation, as small-pox, yellow- 
fever, or cholera." 

Dr. Salmon says of the disease : '' Physical ex- 
amination cannot be depended upon ; but a true 
test can be made bv the use of tuberculin. We 
must cut loose from old methods and take tuber- 
culin. What is needed is a tuberculin test of all 
animals within a certain district, followed by post- 
mortem examinations." 

Dr. Briggs of the Health Department of Xew York 
City, in a report to the municipal authorities, says : 
" The high mortality from this disease in this city 
— over 6,000 in 1892 — is indubitable evidence of 
the necessity of bringing it under the sanitary sur- 
veillance of the department. The same number of 
cholera patients in one year would cause alarm. 



NECESSARY MEASURES FOR PROTECTION. 161 

The affinity of bovine tuberculosis to the same dis- 
ease in the human family must not be lost sight of, 
because the dairy products — milk and cream as 
well as flesh — hold the germs giving rise to the 
disease ; therefore not only should a system of 
dairy cows' milk inspection be advanced, but a 
more than careful examination of the dairy cows, 
individually, as factors of the milk, be advanced 
also." 

Dr. Irving A. Watson, in concluding a long ad- 
dress on this subject, recently said : '' If I were to 
turn for a moment from the public health side of 
this discussion, I would ask. What are the stock- 
raisers going to do with this disease ? It seems to 
me that there is but one thing to do, and that is to 
turn their united efforts toward the eradication of 
tuberculosis in cattle, else the disease will ulti- 
mately ruin their herds, dairies, and markets for 
milk. The suppression of this disease is demanded 
from the standpoints of both the sanitarian and the 
farmer and stock-raiser." 

Dr. Salmon says : " I know from experience that 
many herds of cows are entirely free from the disease. 
This may be proved by the history of the herds and 
by the tuberculin test. Now, taking such herds as 
a starting point, with proper precautions to prevent 
their infection, I believe it is quite possible to breed 
a race of cattle practically free from the disease; 
and while this is being done, the known infected 
herds should be destroyed. A great work like this 

11 



162 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE, 

cannot be accomplished by an individual, nor by a 
single board of health. There must be co-opera- 
tion, unity of effort, and the combined influence 
and power of the nation, the state, the local author- 
ities, the dairymen, and all organizations that are 
interested." 

Dr. Law, in closing his bulletin, discusses the 
question of who should pay the bill as follows: 
" The economist will object to drastic measures for 
the suppression of tuberculosis on the ground of 
expense. Who is to pay for the municipal abat- 
toirs, the inspectorships, the disinfections, and the 
indemnities for slaughtered animals ? In return, 
let me ask, Who now pays for the constant losses 
of live stock which the proposed system would put 
a stop to ? for the frequent infection of sound herds 
by unfortunate purchases of animals that prove to 
be tuberculous ? for the losses to the nation, to the 
community, and the family of the tuberculous 
one eighth of all deaths? for the loss of work — 
literary, scientific, manufacturing, commercial, do- 
mestic, and manual — of the great host of consump- 
tives waiting all over the land to fill the places of 
this fatal eio'hth in coming mortalitv statistics ? for 
the losses represented by the bills of the physician, 
nurse, and druggist for these invalids, and for the 
losses represented by the many migrations and 
exiles in search of health, and of the costly con- 
sumption hospitals and sanitaria ? And who is to 
pay in the future for the needless harvest of similar 



NECESSARY MEASURES FOR PROTECTION, 163 

fruits which the seeds now sown through our su- 
pineness must inevitably produce in the coming 
generations ? Is it not a truer economy to destroy 
the seed before it has germinated, or even before 
it has been sown, than to wait for the multitudi- 
nous evils that must attend on its growth and 
fructification ? " 

Dr. Theobald Smith, in Bulletin No. 7 of the 
Bureau of Animal Industry, writes : " As we are 
now entering upon an era of suppression of this dis- 
ease, it should be borne in mind that radical meas- 
ures are the best to begin with, and that after the 
disease has been weeded out of each large herd by 
tuberculin one or more times, such herd becomes, 
in a sense, an experiment in the prevention of this 
disease, with the element of contagion presumably 
completely eliminated. The future will then decide 
how much is to be feared from the lapses of tuber- 
culin, from sources of the virus outside of the bovine 
species, and from heredity, breed, and environment 
as predisposing agents." 

Massachusetts, which has perhaps taken a more 
advanced ground than any otlier State in attempt- 
ing to control tuberculosis, is now enforcing a 
thorough systematic inspection and tuberculin test 
of all the neat cattle in the State. The Cattle 
Commission, in their report for 1894, explain their 
adoption of this course as follows : — 

"At the time of the adoption of the tuberculin 
test as the proper method of examining all animals 



164 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

suspected of being tuberculous, the Board were of 
the opinion that, while its efforts in this direction 
as based upon the mere examination of animals 
reported by the inspectors to be tuberculous at 
isolated points throughout the State would result 
in the destruction of actually diseased animals to a 
considerable extent, it would be of but little service 
in really cleansing the herds of the State from 
the disease, because the animals so examined and 
selected for the test were only such as appeared to 
show external symptoms of the disease ; and also 
because the Board felt, from its experience with 
the test, that other animals, apparently healthy, 
were being allowed to go free and spread the con- 
tagion. Thus in the end the percentage of diseased 
animals would be but slightly decreased. 

" They were further impressed with the fact that 
not only were the public interested in the destruc- 
tion of diseased animals, but the farmers and dairy- 
men were equally interested in having, if possible, 
some means of assisting them in their purchase of 
cattle, so that they might be able to replace the ani- 
mals destroyed with others which had successfully 
passed the test. The Board therefore felt that the 
best method of protecting all parties and eradicating 
the disease was only to be obtained by a thorough 
scientific examination of all neat stock throughout 
the State. They therefore decided to begin a sys- 
tematic examination of all animals in the State, 
county by county; taking proper precaution, as 



NECESSARY MEASURES FOR PROTECTION. 165 

fast as all the animals in each county had been 
examined, destroyed, or marked, to prevent, by 
quarantine regulations, the importation within its 
limits of animals which had not already been so 
examined." 

Dr. Niles, veterinarian of the Virginia Experi- 
ment Station, recommends the following as neces- 
sary to control the disease in the lower animals and 
lessen the mortality in man : " The establishment 
of a State Board of Health with one member a ve- 
terinarian ; a liberal State appropriation ; the estab- 
lishment of public abattoirs, where all food animals 
must be slaughtered ; veterinary inspection of all 
meats, and of all public dairies ; compensation for 
condemned animals ; power to the veterinarian to 
destroy diseased animals ; country hospitals for 
indigent tuberculous people ; compulsory disinfec- 
tion of all premises occupied by tuberculous people 
or animals ; cremation of all diseased carcasses, 
and prohibition of tuberculous people from attend- 
ing public gatherings in closed buildings." 

The New York Commission, in their report of 
1895, say: — 

" Tuberculous cattle are valuable to the State only 
when dead ; and inspection and confiscation could 
never be detrimental to the interests of the honest 
dairymen, especially if liberal compensation were 
granted, under well defined conditions. It is there- 
fore necessary that there should be some regular 
inspection of cattle in order that any affected should 



166 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

be eliminated from the milk supply. These should 
at once be destroyed, as both their flesh and milk 
are unfit for food. Tliere should be devised some 
central authority, conformably to the genius of our 
government, with authority to exercise continuous 
inspection in this line ; for, as will be seen from 
the investigations of this Commission, this is not a 
work to be taken up in a season and afterward 
laid aside. There should be some supervision of 
our meat and milk supply. 

" The object lessons given by this Commission 
have been of incalculable benefit to the people in 
the work of disseminating knowledge concerning 
the behavior of the disease, and many dairymen are 
now engaged in examining their own cattle. The 
stamping out policy can now be put into action by 
rigorous inspection, first directed in the distrib- 
uting centres and milk supplies of municipalities, 
and dairies supplying milk to cheese factories, 
creameries, and condensories, after which exam- 
ination should extend to more remote districts. 
Such action would be speedily followed by the 
complete extinction of the disease. The question 
is one of political economy in the improvement of 
the dairy interests and the betterment of public 
health. While it is admitted that this work will 
involve a large expenditure, ultimate gain to tlie 
agriculturists and to the saving of human life will 
be beyond estimation." 

Dr. Salmon says : " If we start out practically to 



NECESSARY MEASURES FOR PROTECTION, 167 

get rid of tuberculosis, the first proceeding would 
be to educate the public in regard to it. We want 
the public and the dairymen to understand the 
importance of the subject, and to co-operate with us. 
If they did this, and were willing to annihilate a 
herd when they found tuberculosis, and disinfect 
tlie stables a little while before putting new cows 
on the premises, and then bought new animals from 
a healthy herd, we might accomplish much. I am 
rather of the opinion that in a great many cases 
it would be best to establish herds separate from 
the disease ; and by care these herds might be kept 
free from it indefinitely. Of course, there would 
be some objections to undertaking such a step ; but 
I have great hopes, because I feel sure there are a 
large number of lierds in which the disease has 
never been introduced. Therefore I think that 
in connection with the sanitary work by officials 
there should be educational work going on, and 
endeavors by the dairymen themselves to estab- 
lish herds which are free from the disease. Then, 
in addition to the work as it is carried on, there 
must be a co-operation of everybody interested. 
As I look at the matter, there is very little use for 
any one individual or any one State to start out on 
a crusade of this sort, and expect it to result in 
success. There must be co-operation between the 
different State Boards of Hcaltli and the national 
government ; and we must try to co-operate with 
the dairymen themselves, and the dairy associa- 



168 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

tions must take action in the matter. We must 
do everything we can to sustain the hands of the 
inspectors." 

Professor Pearson writes in a recent paper : — 
" By the use of tuberculin it is possible to isolate 
the diseased animals, and make sure that those 
remaining are free from tuberculosis. If the stable 
is now disinfected, and the herd retested after an 
interval of six months to find cases that might by 
some almost impossible chance have escaped the 
first examination, we should have freed the herd 
from tuberculosis ; and it would then only remain 
to exclude diseased additions to keep clear of the 
scourge. 

" An important question that presents itself is, 
What shall be done with the cows that react ? 
Our previous experience and present knowledge 
allow but one answer to this question ; and it is, 
Destroy them ! All animals that react, ignoring the 
very few possible exceptions, are tuberculous ; but 
it should be remembered that some of them suffer to 
but a very slight degree. In some of the animals 
we may, upon making the autopsy, find nothing but 
a few tuberculous areas of the size of a pea, and 
perhaps these are situated in the lymph glands. 
In such a condition an animal cannot scatter the 
tubercle bacilli, and it might be objected that 
slaughter is unnecessary waste. But how are we 
to know that the tubercles, which we are sure exist 
in the body, are not in the lungs, the kidneys, the 



NECESSARY MEASURES FOR PROTECTION. 169 

sexual organs, or even the udder ? The most 
careful and exact physical examination could easily 
fail to elicit their presence at some stages of their 
growth. 

" We know that nearly all cases of tuberculosis in 
cattle tend to advance, and that a slight depression 
or illness may lead to the rapid development of a 
more general tuberculous condition, starting from 
the lesion which we know is present. The sale of 
an animal known to have tuberculosis, though ever 
so slightly, cannot be justified either morally or 
legally ; and to keep such an animal in a herd is to 
harbor a foe of unknown strength." 

In a recent bulletin of the United States Bureau 
of Animal Industry, the necessity of absolute dis- 
infection of premises where tuberculosis has been 
discovered is insisted on. Corrosive sublimate 
(mercurial chloride) is recommended, — an ounce 
to eight gallons of water, to be dissolved for twenty- 
four hours in wooden vessels, and to be applied 
freely as a wash in all parts of the stable. As this 
is a very poisonous preparation, it should be care- 
fully guarded. All dirt should be removed before 
the wash is used, and afterward the staljle should 
be kept vacant as long as possible. Before ani- 
mals are put in, all the parts they would be likely 
to touch with their tongues should be washed 
with clean water. Chloride of lime, five ounces to 
a gallon of water, may be similarly used. 

A serviceable disinfectant, that is quite eorro- 



170 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

sive but not poisonous, is crude carbolic acid, two 
quarts, and crude sulphuric acid, two quarts. Mix 
these in wood or glass vessels, slowly adding the 
sulphuric to the carbolic acid. As considerable 
heat is evolved in mixing, the power of the mix- 
ture is retained by keeping it in cold water while 
mixing. It should be diluted one part to twenty 
of water, and generously applied, care being taken 
to avoid splashing the hands of the operator. 

Whitewash is not strong enough to destroy the 
bacilli ; but if applied after the stalls are thor- 
oughly washed, it will imprison them so as to ren- 
der at least temporary protection. 

The stanchions, feed-boxes, and halters, and the 
walls, ceilings, and windows of stables should be 
frequently cleansed and disinfected, even where 
the presence of the disease is not suspected. The 
frequent removal of the manure, flushing of the 
runs behind the cattle, and good ventilation, are all 
aids to health. 

Cattle should have plenty of room, with at least 
six hundred cubic feet of air space to each animal. 
Each animal should always occupy the same place, 
otherwise one diseased animal may soon infect a 
whole stable. Stables should also be protected 
from the expectorations of human beings affected 
with pulmonary tuberculosis. 

The Massachusetts Veterinary Association has 
also recently given this subject careful considera- 
tion, and throuo'h a committee it has issued rec- 



NECESSARY MEASURES FOR PROTECTION. 171 

ommendations including the following. Farmers 
should, as far as possible, raise their own stock, 
breeding only from animals of strong constitution 
and known freedom from tuberculous taint ; each 
farmer should own a bull, and restrict its use to 
his own herd, except where he is sure of the purity 
of his neighbors' herds ; allow no strange animal 
to approach the herd ; never buy from a suspected 
herd ; never buy an animal with a cough, bad 
breathing, lumpy or diseased udder, swollen joints, 
or with 'a tendency to scour or bloat ; give each 
animal at least one thousand cubic feet of air space ; 
provide constant ventilation without exposing the 
animals to cold drafts ; give abundant outdoor 
exercise, except in extreme weather ; keep the 
barns clean, and sprinkle always before sweeping; 
exclude consumptive people from tlie barns; keep 
no manure in the cellar or near the cattle ; have 
the cellar well drained, lighted, and ventilated ; 
allow no accumulation of water or filth in the barn- 
yard ; avoid early, late, and too frequent breeding, 
and excessive feeding and milking. 

To eradicate the disease where present, they 
advise the test of all animals by tuberculin, fol- 
lowed by immediate slaughter of all detected 
animals, frequent retests, and the most thorough 
disinfection of the stables and their surroundings. 

The International Veterinary Congress at Brus- 
sels, in September, 1883, now twelve years ago, 
after a discussion of the subject, adopted resolutions 
which are thus summarized by Dr. Fleming : — 



172 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

''1, In order that the flesh and viscera of the 
animal be allowed for consumption, the disease 
should only be in its earliest stage, the lesions con- 
fined to a small portion of the body, the lymphatic 
glands yet free from alteration of a tuberculous 
character, the tuberculous centres not softened, the 
meat healthy and of the first quality, and the gen- 
eral nutrition of the animal at the time of slaughter 
leaving nothing to be desired. 

" 2. The flesh of tuberculous animals intended 
for food should not be conveyed beyond the locality 
in which slaughter has been effected, nor offered 
for sale at the stall of an ordinary butcher. 

'' 8. Every quarter of meat, and any viscera show- 
ing tuberculous lesions or transformations, as well 
as the flesh of every animal in which signs of more 
advanced tubercular infection are found than those 
above mentioned, should be rendered unsalable by 
sprinkling them with petroleum, and finally buried, 
under the surveillance of the police. The extraction 
of the tallow by boiling, as well as the sale of the 
skin, may be permitted. 

" 4. The inspection of every animal affected. with 
tuberculosis should be made by a veterinary sur- 
geon, who alone can judge whether the flesh may 
be consumed. 

''5. The milk of animals affected with or sus- 
pected of tuberculosis should not be used for the 
food of man, nor yet of certain animals, and its sale 
should be rigorously prohibited." 



NECESSARY MEASURES FOR PROTECTION, 173 

The International Veterinary Congress at Paris, 
in 1888, after a prolonged discussion in which the 
safety of mildly tuberculous meat was fully advo- 
cated, resolved that " there is need to carry out by 
every possible means, including compensation to 
those concerned, the general principle of seizure 
and total destruction of all the flesh derived from 
tuberculous animals, no matter what number of 
specific lesions may be found in them." 

The International Veterinary Congress of 1889 
devoted considerable of its time to this subject, and 
Professor Arloing formulated its expression as fol- 
lows : '^ That it is necessary to eliminate from 
human and animal consumption the flesh from tu- 
berculous animals, mammals, and birds, whatever 
may be the degree of tuberculosis or the apparent 
qualities of the meat. That the skin and horns 
may be utilized after disinfection, and also the fat 
if need be. That the milk of tuberculous cows 
should not be allowed for human alimenta,tion. 
That dairies in large towns or their vicinity should 
be properly inspected. That everything should be 
done to insure the boiling of milk from unknown 
sources before it is consumed." 

Professor Arloing concluded his address, present- 
ing the above conclusions, with this expression : 
" We shall always gain in combating, no matter at 
what cost in money, an enemy so redoubtable as 
the virus of tuberculosis." 

The United States Veterinary Medical Associa- 
tion in 1889 took action as follows : — 



174 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE, 

" "Whereas, we, the members of the United States 
Veterinary Medical Association, being sensible of 
the prevalence of bovine tuberculosis in the United 
States, particularly in the dairy stock of the East- 
ern States, it being computed that at least from ten 
to fifteen per cent are so affected in one form or 
another, being satisfied of its infectious and conta- 
gious character, and of its identity with tuberculosis 
or consumption in the human family, that it can 
be conveyed to others by inoculation and ingestion, 
and believing that a large percentage of this dis- 
ease in mankind can be traced to this source, — 

" Resolved^ That we strongly condemn the use of 
the milk or flesh of animals so affected, in any form, 
as an article of diet. 

" Resolved^ That this Association urgently pro- 
tests against the employment of empirics as meat 
or dairy inspectors ; that such duties should be con- 
fined to duly qualified veterinarians having a com- 
prehensive knowledge of comparative pathology. 

" Resolved^ That the inspection of meat can only 
be properly conducted at the abattoirs. 

" Resolved^ That all dairies should be periodically 
visited, the cows carefully examined, and their con- 
dition reported upon to the local authorities. 

" Resolved^ That a committee of three be ap- 
pointed by the chair to place these resolutions 
before the Secretary of Agriculture, so that national 
measures may be adopted by which this disease can 
be placed under the same category as contagious 
pleuro-pneumonia, and be similarly dealt with." 



NECESSARY MEASURES FOR PROTECTION. 175 

Of infectious diseases in general Dr. Salmon says : 
" These diseases are not, as a rule, amenable to 
treatment. When the symptoms have once ap- 
peared, the disease is apt to run its course in spite 
of treatment ; and if it is one from which animals 
usually recover, all that can be done is to put them 
into the most favorable surroundings. Many infec- 
tious diseases lead sooner or later to death, and 
treatment is useless so far as the sick are con- 
cerned. But it may be worse than useless for 
those not yet infected. All animals suffering with 
infectious diseases are a menace to all others, more 
or less directly. They represent for the time being 
manufactories of disease germs, and are giving 
them off more or less abundantly during all the 
period of disease. They may infect others directly, 
or they may scatter the virus about, and the sur- 
roundings may become a future source of infection 
for healthy animals. . . . When an infectious dis- 
ease has gained foothold in a herd, the course to be 
pursued in getting rid of it will depend upon the 
nature of the malady. A good rule is to kill dis- 
eased animals, especially when the disease is likely 
to run a chronic course, as in tuberculosis." 

H. F. Vickery, M. D., of Boston, says tlie present 
awakening about tuberculosis fills him with enthu- 
siasm. " It is a welcome thought that we are on 
the threshold of a great diminution in the scourge ; 
and I cherish the hope that the work which is being 
begun will in the course of the next two or three 



176 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

generations very greatly diminish the prevalence of 
tuberculosis. If wliat we now believe is true, and 
the efforts which we are to encourage are carried 
out persistently for a few generations, this omni- 
present germ will no longer be ready to enter every 
weak human svstem ; and the results of what we 
do now will be increasing in a geometrical ratio, 
not only for ten years or for twenty, but for fifty." 

In relation to the question of the discussion 
causing alarm, he says : " Needless alarm should 
be deprecated ; but if we can throttle a disease 
which is killing from a seventh to a fifth of all who 
die, is it not well to excite the apprehensions of the 
public ? I should be glad to do it everywhere I 
could." 

Of the prevention of human infection Dr. Henry 
Mitchell, of Trenton, N. J., writes : — 

'^ All tuberculous discharges should be destroyed 
before they become dry. Sputa should be received 
upon pieces of cloth and burned ; or they should be 
discharged into cups containing a little of a satu- 
rated (five per cent) solution of carbolic acid. In 
the street, and when travelling in public convey- 
ances, a pocket cup should be carried to receive 
the expectorated material. No such receptacle 
should be emptied until boiling v>^ater has first 
been poured upon its contents. The water should 
be allowed to cool in the cup. 

" The consumptive patient may reinfect himself 
bv swallowing some of the tuberculous matter from 



NECESSARY MEASURES FOR PROTECTION. 177 

his lungs, and thus cause the disease to attack one 
of the abdominal organs ; or by failing to destroy 
the sputa he may permit the infection of the dust 
of his apartment, and by inhaling the germs plant 
the disease anew in some previously healthy por- 
tion of his lungs. Meat and milk known to be 
from diseased animals should be rejected. Milk 
from a doubtful source may be sterilized by 
boiling. 

" Carpets cannot be kept clean, and they are al- 
most certain to become lodging places for tubercle 
bacilli in houses occupied by consumptive patients. 
Rugs, which are not permanently fastened, are 
preferable to carpets. They should be frequently 
carried out of doors and exposed all day to air and 
light. Carpets, rugs, and floors which are believed 
to be infected should not be swept when dry. Dust 
should be removed from the furniture by wiping 
with a damp cloth, and the cloth should be burned 
at once. 

'' No healthy person should sleep in a room occu- 
pied by a consumptive. Rooms vacated by persons 
having consumption should be disinfected by the 
application of corrosive sublimate (1 to 1,000) to 
the side-walls, doors, and all wood-work, including 
floors and furniture. This solution is poisonous. 
All wood-work should therefore be washed with 
soap and water. Dishes, knives, forks, and spoons 
used by a consumptive should be scalded after use. 
All other infected articles should be subjected to a 

12 



178 TUBERCULOSIS AMONG CATTLE. 

temperature of not less than 212 degrees Fahr., for 
thirty minutes, or they should be destroyed." 



The matter here presented does not by any means 
exhaust the material at hand ; but it is sufficient to 
impress the patient reader with the gravity of the 
situation, both as it affects cattle owners and the 
general consumers of cattle products. The ques- 
tion of the control or the extirpation of the disease 
is a vital one. Massachusetts is among the first of 
the States to take radical legislative action on it, and 
her course will be watched with great interest by 
the whole country. The other New England States 
are moving substantially on Massachusetts lines, 
and everywhere, where cattle are kept for dairy 
use, the questions considered in this volume are 
among the most interesting and important now 
before the public. 

The testimony herewitli presented proves that 
the matter is not merely one of interest to the 
small circle of professional men, nor to those en- 
gaged in the production of meat and dairy pro- 
ducts ; but it involves the health, the liappiness, 
and the life of the great public, — the consumers. 
These are hardly yet aware of their own deep con- 
cern in the matter ; but its discussion, and tlie 
consideration of relief measures, now so widely 
begun, will continue until the whole civilized world 
gives it attention. 



NOTE. 

Just as the forms are closing on these pages 
another feature of interest is appearing, not di- 
rectly related to the subject treated here, but so 
connected as to justify its mention. This is the 
announced discovery that the inhalation of the odor 
of peppermint is a cure for pulmonary tuberculosis 
in the human family. The matter has been under 
careful and extended experiment by Dr. G. W. 
Carosso, at the military hospital at Genoa, Italy, and 
he reports success with about three quarters of the 
cases treated. It has also had limited trial in this 
country. The treatment requires almost constant 
inhalation, and is probably applicable only to cases 
of pulmonary affection. For these and other prac- 
tical reasons it does not seem probable that the 
treatment will be of value with cattle. 



THE END. 



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